Staff at a Stellantis factory in Southern Italy have slowed production of the Alfa Romeo Tonale and Fiat Panda while protesting against working conditions at the plant.
The Fiom union’s automotive arm has revealed that many employees at the Pomigliano d’Arco plant near Naples, Italy stopped working for two hours on Friday in what was their third day of protests. The workers are upset about unsanitary toilets, insufficient heating, and a lack of work gear, Bloomberg reports.
“The plant is dirty and the toilets stink,” Fiom’s automotive unit head Simone Marinelli said. “Work overalls are missing — some workers have to wait months to have the old and worn out ones replaced.”
Stellantis has rejected claims of it not paying attention to working conditions, stating that it acts within the framework of labor contracts and with respect for its employees.
The carmaker isn’t just receiving pressure from this Italian factory to improve working conditions. The chief of France’s CFDT labor union, Christine Virassamy, has previously said that Stellantis hasn’t made adequate investments in the upkeep of French factories.
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“Often there are clogged toilets, or soap is missing, or grass that doesn’t get cut,” Virassamy recently told Bloomberg. “Ventilators are missing in summer and it can get stifling in factories.”
These protests come just a couple of months after Stellantis announced plans to cut as many as 2,000 jobs in Italy this year. The cuts represent about 4.3% of the 47,000-strong workforce in the country. The majority of these cuts will come from workers not directly involved in production. These workers will receive early retirement benefits and as much as two years of salary for older workers. A reason for the cuts is the fewer employees that are needed to build electric vehicles.
