While the Italian government and Stellantis are due to meet to redefine the famous "Italy plan", the situation at the Termoli plant alone symbolizes the automotive group's progressive disengagement from its home territory. While France is recruiting for its ACC Gigafactory, in Italy, production lines are closing, jobs are disappearing, and silence reigns.
A "chronicle of a death foretold
This is how Stefania Fantauzzi, national delegate for the USB trade union, describes what is currently happening at the Stellantis plant in Termoli. In front of the camera, she denounces a programmed dismantling of production that has been going on for years. The ultimate victim: the production line for the FIRE 16-valve engine, whose shutdown is imminent. Worse still, a solidarity contract is planned for next autumn, and could concern the entire site.
For USB, this situation is neither new nor surprising. The union claims to have sounded the alarm as early as February 14, 2023, at the first consultation table with Stellantis, in which all the central trade unions took part. "We planned everything. And we said so, often in the midst of general indifference," recalls Fantauzzi, pointing the finger at politicians, the signatory unions and the workers themselves for not reacting in time.
A phantom Gigafactory
At the heart of the debate is the famous Gigafactory promised for Termoli, designed to compensate for the industrial losses associated with the gradual move away from fossil-fired power. But for the time being, this plant remains without a precise timetable, without concrete hiring, without production launched. Meanwhile, production plants are closing down one by one.
Meanwhile, in France, the ACC consortium's only operational Gigafactory (of which Stellantis is a shareholder) is actively recruiting, with dozens of positions to be filled immediately. Investment, training, state-of-the-art equipment... everything that Termoli is sorely lacking.
A forgotten site, rising anger
On Saturday May 17, at a press conference held at the Cala Sveva Beach Club, the Fim-Cisl, Uilm, Fismic and UglM unions denounced the massive departures, closed departments and halted projects. At Termoli, 200 employees will leave the plant by September 30, representing around 10 % of the workforce. These figures are comparable to those at Melfi or Mirafiori, but they hardly move national leaders.
"As soon as it comes to Termoli, attention seems to wane, as if it only concerned those who live here. This is unacceptable," insist the local unions.
Waiting for a credible plan
On the public authorities' side, announcements are multiplying. Stellantis Europe CEO Jean-Phiilippe Imparato recently reaffirmed his commitment to developing an "Italy plan". But no date has been set. Worse still, according to certain sources, no concrete response has been given to the national unions' request for an urgent meeting on the Termoli/ACC dossier.
Meanwhile, production lines come to a standstill. Machines are moved. Employees are counting their remaining days. And many are betting on severance pay rather than a local industrial future.
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Elkann is responsible, he knew the consequences, he knew exactly what he was doing when he handed over the keys to the Peugeot family, who also had Tavares and his gang as their right-hand men.
Leaving employees in the dark is literally a disgrace on the part of Stellantis... The lack of reaction from national politicians also speaks volumes.
Well, that's an Italian joke, isn't it? You'd have to go back ten years or so to the time when FCA Fiat wasn't renewing the Punto, for example, to see that the Italian shareholders in particular shot themselves in the foot. The Peugeot family disengaged from Stellantis!