Alexandre
Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantishas scheduled an important meeting with the national secretaries of all the metalworking unions for next Monday afternoon in Turin. The meeting comes a month and a half after the last meeting at Mirafiori (which had been disappointing) and promises to tackle key issues concerning prospects for Stellantis' Italian plants.
One of the focal points of this meeting will be the future of italian factories. This meeting will be held on the eve of discussions scheduled in Rome with the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy on the Pomigliano and Cassino factories, where strikes have taken place in recent days.
Among the topics under discussion, Tavares could announce news concerning the Italian plants, starting with Mirafiori. The idea of produce a new Fiat 500 hybrid at Mirafiorito complement the electric version already in production. This proposal was raised by Fiat CEO Olivier Francois, who confirmed the end of Fiat 500 Hybrid production in Poland and said that Stellantis was working on a new 500 hybrid to be produced at Mirafiori.
However, the realization of this project would require major investments to adapt the plant platform, with a production scheduled from 2026. This announcement may allay some of the unions' concerns about the future of Italian plants, but doubts remain about the real impact on employment and the extended implementation timescales.
Monday's meeting is also marked by a tense context, with recent announcements of further periods of unemployment at the Turin plant, accompanied by a halt in production until June.
Uncertainty looms over the future prospects Stellantis will present to the unions. Despite promises to revive automobile production in Italy, with an ambitious target of one million vehicles produced, the situation seems to have deteriorated. At the beginning of May, Uilm's national coordinator at Stellantis called for a nationwide strike if full clarification of production and investment plans was not forthcoming.
The meeting of Monday, May 27, 2024, 5 p.m. at the Turin Style Centerbetween Carlos Tavares and the unions will be decisive for the future of Stellantis' Italian plants. Announcements to meet unions' pressing expectations and workers to guarantee a stable future for the Italian automotive industry. As a reminder, Stellantis Investor Day on June 13The May 27 meeting is probably intended to ease certain tensions between Italy and Stellantis.