As has been known for several weeks now, the Italian automotive industry, as well as those around the world or almost around the world, is slowly crumbling. The metalworkers’ unions have called a strike to be held on October 18. A meeting between Tavares and the Italian government is also scheduled to take place soon, but at the moment the government appears to have asked for the meeting to be postponed.
Requested extension for meeting between Tavares the government
Fim-Cisl, Fiom-Cgil and Uilm have officially requested that the meeting scheduled for October 11 – or Friday of this week – be postponed to the subsequent Friday, October 18. For the meeting in question, the unions are also trying to involve the Prime Minister’s Office, precisely in order to convene a meeting that is quite specific with reference to the unions themselves. This is what they stated in a joint that was recently sent to Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares. The theme, it would be to undertake the confrontation again, with the aim of arriving at a joint decision that is suitable for reviving the Italian automotive sector and capable of putting both sides on a secure footing. At the moment, in fact, there are strong fears that the situation could permanently damage the factories and their employment.
Workers in the Italian automotive sector will carry out a strike on October 18, which is precisely why a request was made to postpone the meeting on that date to coincide with the strike. The protest will be, as anticipated on other occasions, referring to the sharp decline in the production of Stellantis, which is the largest car manufacturer in the country. In addition, unions during that day have also called for a national demonstration in Rome.
Production figures that worry unions
According to the union, future prospects at the moment indicate that the Stellantis group will be able to produce just over half a million cars over the year. This is quite a remarkable decline if one takes as a reference last year, where the number amounted to more than 750,000. Over the past 17 years, the automaker has reduced production by almost 70 percent in Italy.
But the situation is not only critical in Italy, as even operations in North America are declining sharply, despite the fact that until now it has been the most profitable market for the automotive group. A market that features very high-end brands, such as Jeep and Ram ,is experiencing the same problems as Italy. Stellantis currently, is looking for a new CEO to succeed Carlos Tavares, for whom several names have also already been mentioned for taking the position. The company has also described this situation as a normal leadership succession plan, although it cannot be ruled out that Tavares may remain longer.
So we can conclude by saying that Stellantis has been in negotiations for several months with the right-wing Italian government to try to increase production in the country. Since no goal or even any kind of agreement has been reached so far, we can only wait for what will be discussed and decided at the next meeting on October 18.