25,000 jobs at Stellantis plants in Italy at risk

Stellantis' planned job cuts in Italy next year will result in the elimination of up to 25,000 jobs in car production, it was announced on August 8. Ferdinando Uliano, head of the Christian metalworkers' union FIM/CISL, said Stellantis plans to cut at least 12,000 jobs at its Italian plants, which would also mean the loss of another 12,000 to 13,000 jobs at suppliers.

The announcement was preceded by a round table (Table for the car) in Rome under the leadership of the Minister for Enterprise and Made in Italy (Mimit) Adolfo Urso, who belongs to the fascist ruling party Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy) of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. In addition to representatives of Stellantis, all three major metalworkers' unions – Fiom/Cgil, Fim/Cisl and Uilm – took part. Speaking to the Italian television channel La7, Stellantis' HR manager Giuseppe Manca said: “Stellantis has communicated to the unions the group's plan for Italy, which assigns a mission to each plant by the end of the decade.”

Stellantis Italy was created in spring 2021 through the merger of Fiat-Chrysler (FCA) with the French PSA Group (Peugeot, Citroën). Since then, Fiat has been systematically cutting jobs. Shortly before the merger, Fiat employed around 55,000 people; today there are only around 43,000, of which around 15,000 are in the Turin region.

Stellantis' plans in Italy are part of a global job massacre that is affecting plants across Europe and the USA. “If the brands don't make money, we will close them,” Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares threatened a few weeks ago. At Opel in Germany, for example, another 1,000 jobs are at acute risk. Production is repeatedly interrupted by periods of short-time work. In Austria, the Opel plant in Aspern was closed last month, affecting 220 employees. In France, Stellantis has cut 600 jobs at the Mulhouse plant.

In the USA, 2,450 workers are to be laid off at the truck assembly plant in Warren, Michigan, in early October. Previously, 2,000 temporary workers and hundreds of employees from other American plants were laid off.

The Autoworkers Rank-and-File Committee Network, affiliated with the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC), has called for a counteroffensive by workers in the United States. In its statement, it said:

A clear line must be drawn! Warren Truck is now a crucial battleground in the global fight for jobs. Autoworkers must make this the start of a broad counteroffensive, pitting workers' right to work and a decent standard of living against management's so-called “right” to profit.

Will Lehman, an autoworker and socialist, appealed to workers at Stellantis sites around the world, urging them to join forces in the fight for jobs. Will said: “We appeal to our colleagues around the world to join us in a counter-offensive to defend jobs.”