With Stellantis targeting over 5 billion euros ($6.1 billion) per year in savings, CEO Carlos Tavares is currently visiting the group’s Italian facilities in order to meet local unions and solidify relationships.
Tavares stopped by some of the main production sites in Italy, such as Turin’s Mirafiori on Wednesday, Melfi on Thursday and Cassino on Friday, reports Reuters. It seems that he already made a good impression during his visits.
“It had never happened that a CEO had sat down to take questions from representatives at such a grassroot level,” said Marco Lomio of the UILM union in the Basilicata region (Melfi), adding that Tavares took time to listen and to actually answer all questions.
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Then Lomio kind of threw FCA boss Mike Manley under the bus a little, saying: “Mike Manley had never paid us a visit at the plant. Tavares seems to be more in line with the style of former CEO Sergio Marchionne.”
Earlier this week, Tavares spoke with the heads of Italy’s national metalworker unions virtually, which was seen as an “act of respect” by Francesca Re David, the head of the FIOM metalwork union.
“It is important that he met all the unions and that he highlighted the need to invest in intellect, creativity and skills of Italian workers,” she stated.
This strategy seems to be paying off for Tavares, especially when you consider that Italy and France are Stellantis’ two main production hubs for Europe, and Italian unions have been fearing that the merger would displace the group’s center of gravity more towards Paris.
