Italy: negotiations between Fiat and unions for the group’s new collective agreement start with an incident with the Fiom-CGIL union

Negotiations for the new national collective agreement of Fiat after it left Confindustria (see our dispatch No.  110720) is off to a rough start for the Fiom.  Its leader, Maurizio Landini, left the negotiating table yesterday, accusing Fiat of “faulty management” since the majority of his delegation (including Giorgio Airaudo, national auto representative) was unable to come in after the doors were closed for the gathering of independent unions demanding to take part in the negotiations.  Then, Fiat kept discussing with the , Uilm, Fismic, Capi and Quadri unions and, as an “observer,” the Fiom’s local secretary, Frederico Bellono.  He told the press that Fiat wanted to extend the Pomigliano agreement (see our dispatch No.  110011) – which the Fiom didn’t sign because it thought it was too unfavorable to union and workers’ rights – to the entire group, “harmonizing some elements having to do with the sites’ differences.”