CHAPTER 50
THE FIAT AGREEMENT – 1980
1. The redundancy notices
for the 14,479 workers are to be withdrawn.
2. A “state of crisis” is
to be declared in the auto industry (to last from October 1980 to December
1981). Under Law 675 this will permit government money to be used to provide a
layoff fund. 23,000 FIAT workers (out of a total workforce of
150,000) to be laid off from 6 October 1980 to 6 January 1981.
3. Alternatives to
redundancies are to be put into effect. A block on new starters (in other
words, “natural wastage”); early retirement; inter-plant internal mobility for
workers, between FIAT’s various factories in
4. Assembly line workers
in Mirafiori Body Plant, on the 131 and 132 lines, to be put on rotating
layoffs.
5. Retraining schemes to
be set up for the laid-off workers, in part funded by the Italian government,
on the basis of a pilot project set up by the Piedmont regional administration.
6. The situation of the
labour market to be examined every 3 months by a joint meeting of the local
Employment Office, the Employers’ Association and the Trade Unions.
7. A joint meeting to be
held on 30 June 1981, to ascertain the state of the Company and the market. If
the situation has not improved, discussions to follow, regarding the adoption
of the measures necessary to balance surplus stockpiles. If necessary, there
will be a “negotiated agreement” on external mobility, by which “surplus”
workers can be shifted to other plants, to jobs within their grading
classification.
8. The process of “labour
mobility” must take into account technical and productive factors, plus a
worker’s length of service in the factory, and the family situation of the
workers concerned.
9. FIAT will re-employ
workers still laid off at 30 June 1983.
10. There is to be no
transfer of workers from plants in the North of Italy to plants in the South.
11. In January 1982, the
effects of the alternative measures outlined in (3) above will be assessed, and
parallel reductions in mobility may be decided.
[Translated from La Repubblica, 16 October 1980]
_______________________________________
Translated by Ed Emery
Extracted from: THE BOOK OF FIAT: Insurrection,
insubordination, occupation and revolutionary politics at the FIAT motor
company – 1907-1982
Published: Red Notes / May Day
Rooms
First published in 2020