Fiat Chief Tears Into Union Over Stoppage
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles finds issues that it thought had been resolved two years ago during the last confrontation with its unions are raising their ugly heads again. On Thursday the company canceled its plans to use overtime in one plant and chose not to shift 500 furloughed workers from an idle plant to another one because of work slow-downs and a one-hour strike. The company?s Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said in a letter to an Italian newspaper that the strike over general working conditions was ?incomprehensible, irrational and unjustified?. He went on further to emphasize the impact of the one hour strike on the plant?s viability and future. Part of the reason for the demonstrations is that expired contracts have not been renewed, nor has a great deal of negotiating taken place. The unions and the company are still at an impasse over a one-time payment to compensate workers for a freeze in wage increases.
See "Fiat Chief Tears Into Union Over Stoppage", Eric Sylvers, The Wall Street Journal, June 19, 2014