“Historic” strike against the fall in production at Stellantis in Italy

Thousands of striking workers at Italian carmaker Stellantis took to the streets of Rome on Friday to the sound of drums and whistles to denounce the manufacturer's “disengagement” from the peninsula and its plummeting production.

According to the unions, which have called for a strike across the entire automotive sector, 20,000 employees of Stellantis and its suppliers took to the streets in the capital to demand guarantees on employment and the production of new models.

It is “a historic strike like there has not been for more than forty years” in the factories of the former national flagship Fiat, the unions assured, citing participation rates on the various production sites varying between 63% and 100%, according to provisional data.

The Italian manufacturer merged in 2014 with the American Chrysler before marrying with the French Peugeot-Citroën (PSA), giving birth in January 2021 to the group Stellantis.

Striking automotive sector workers demonstrate in Rome, October 18, 2024 © AFP – Filippo MONTEFORTE

“I only work one or two days a week now,” laments Giuseppe Carbonara, 52, from Bari (southeast) and an employee in the sector for thirty years automobile.

“There is no industrial policy in Italy. We ask the government to open discussions with Stellantis,” he argued.

After three years of growth, Stellantis' production in Italy has suddenly started to decline again, falling by 31.7% to 387,600 vehicles in the first nine months of 2024, according to the metallurgy federation FIM-CISL.

– At its lowest since 1956 –

“This is the worst figure since 1956,” its secretary general Ferdinando Uliano assured AFP, who expects production to be “less than 500,000 vehicles” for the whole of the year, compared to more than 751,000 in 2023.

Striking automotive workers demonstrate in Rome, October 18, 2024 © AFP – Filippo MONTEFORTE

Pressured by the nationalist government of Giorgia Meloni, Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares had nevertheless committed in July 2023 to increasing production to one million units by 2030, a goal that now seems out of reach scope.

The cause is sales of electric vehicles in Europe, which have been stagnating since the end of 2023, mainly due to a lack of affordable models, while Brussels has decreed a ban on the sale of thermal cars by 2035.

200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000

“We are navigating in total uncertainty,” protested Pasquale Carrese, 47, from Naples and an employee of Fiat, then Stellantis, for 25 years. “The arrival of Carlos Tavares changed everything. He is only interested in efficiency, there is no clear plan.”

Stellantis and automotive sector workers on strike demonstrate in Turin, Italy, on October 18, 2024 © AFP – MARCO BERTORELLO

Stellantis announced on Wednesday that several of its Italian factories would be shut down again in November, citing “the decline in orders in the electric vehicle market in Europe.”

In a symbolic move, production of the iconic Fiat 500 in electric version at the Mirafiori plant, near Turin, was suspended in mid-September until November 1.

– Factories at idle –

Former center of the golden age of Fiat where the Maserati was also produced, Mirafiori “is slowly dying out”, declared to AFP Maurizio Oreggia, national coordinator for the automobile of the Fiom-Cgil union .

Stellantis employees demonstrate in Turin, October 18, 2024 © AFP – MARCO BERTORELLO

“The Maseratis, when they make them, it's only seven a day,” he sighed.

Mirafiori employees have had a series of technical unemployment periods this year due to a drop in demand, but also to the government's delay in launching bonuses for the purchase of electric vehicles.

The strike “will send a strong and clear message to Stellantis and the government: time is up, the automobile industry is dying, we risk an unprecedented social tragedy,” warned Rocco Palombella, general secretary of the Uilm union.

The right-wing and far-right government of Giorgia Meloni and Stellantis are at loggerheads, with Rome accusing the Franco-Italian-American manufacturer of relocating its production to low-cost countries, to the detriment of Italian factories.

Summoned in mid-October for a hearing in the Italian Parliament, Mr. Tavares has failed to convince either MPs or unions, requesting more subsidies and denouncing the excessively high production costs in Italy.

Since the merger between Peugeot-Citroën and Fiat Chrysler in 2021, Stellantis' workforce in Italy has been reduced by more than 10,000 people, to around 40,000.

In France too, in the factories of Poissy, Douvrin, Caen, the days of partial unemployment have multiplied since the beginning of the year with the slowdown in the automobile market.

Many employees are encouraged to find work elsewhere and Carlos Tavares reassured no one at the Paris Motor Show by not ruling out any closures factories.

All rights reserved. © (2024) Agence France-Presse