The CEO of Fiat says that the company and Italian unions need to come to an agreement soon, or production of the cars will move elsewhere. The company and the union have been in talks about new working conditions that the company wants before investing 20 billion euros in the Italian plants. Talks broke down last week, which led to a 2 hour strike by one of the unions. The company says that it wants a deal by the end of the year. A spokesman for the union said that they will not change their positions on the issues, which include sick leave and overtime, without the workers' approval. The CEO said that he did not want to move production out of Italy, but that he would if he had to.
See "Fiat CEO: Little Time For Plant Deal With Unions", Jeff Bennett, The Wall Street Journal, December 8, 2010