Fiat CEO bows to union's request

Italian workers placated as more U.S. investors courted

A salesman drives a Maserati Ghibli luxury automobile, produced by Maserati SpA, inside the Louwman Exclusive Cars showroom in Utrecht, Netherlands, on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014. Carmakers are predicting a gradual increase in European demand this year after a sovereign-debt crisis and recessions led to a six-year contraction in deliveries through 2013. Photographer: Jasper Juinen/Bloomberg
A salesman drives a Maserati Ghibli luxury automobile, produced by Maserati SpA, inside the Louwman Exclusive Cars showroom in Utrecht, Netherlands, on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014. Carmakers are predicting a gradual increase in European demand this year after a sovereign-debt crisis and recessions led to a six-year contraction in deliveries through 2013. Photographer: Jasper Juinen/Bloomberg

When Maserati SpA workers entered a conference room at the Grugliasco car factory near Turin on June 23, they were expecting to discuss with the plant manager how to meet booming demand for the $66,900 Ghibli sedan.

Instead, the employees found Sergio Marchionne, chief executive officer of parent Fiat SpA, sitting at the table.

Marchionne made a surprise return to Italy from the U.S. to solve a labor dispute at the facility, a symbol of Fiat's new strategy to make upscale cars in Europe and to rehire thousands of laid-off assembly-line workers in the country. The chief executive warned the Grugliasco staff that a June 16 strike risked creating negative publicity in the U.S, where he's moving Fiat's main stock market listing later this year.

The 62-year-old executive showed the group a video of Rich Boruff, local head of the United Auto Workers at the Tipton plant in Indiana, praising Marchionne for saving Chrysler Group LLC's factory. His relations with unions have been better in the U.S. than in Italy, where he often clashes with labor groups on his campaign to increase productivity with more flexible rules.

"This meeting showed how important the Italian plants are becoming to Marchionne's new strategy," said Roberto Di Maulo, head of the Fismic union, one of the largest representing Fiat's 62,500 workers in Italy. "Italian car workers have suffered for years."

Marchionne met with the Grugliasco workers for more than an hour before announcing production changes at the Maserati plant. He bowed to the union's request and reversed a decision taken a week earlier, giving the green light for the transfer of 500 laid-off workers from Fiat's main plant at Mirafiori to Grugliasco.

The CEO wants to build eight new Alfa Romeos and four new Maseratis by 2018 at the carmaker's Italian factories. These models will be sold mainly outside Europe as part of his plan to increase deliveries 61 percent to 7 million cars by 2018 and to increase net income fivefold to $6.8 billion with a wider offering of luxury vehicles.

"While Marchionne wants to lure U.S. investors to invest in the carmaker, he needs to reassure them he has a full grip over operations in Italy, where he will carry the most risky part of his investment plan," said Vincenzo Longo, strategist at IG Group in Milan.

Grugliasco is the only Fiat plant in Italy that's currently operating at full capacity because Maserati is on pace to double sales this year. Maserati and Ferrari deliveries have almost tripled in the first five months globally, while Fiat's have dropped 1 percent in Europe.

At Grugliasco, a plant Fiat bought in 2009 from the bankrupt Italian manufacturer Bertone, Marchionne's decision to add Saturday shifts and cut a week of vacation in August prompted 11 percent of the almost 2,000 workers to strike for an hour on June 16. The protest, a week before Marchionne's surprise visit, cut Maserati production by 11 cars.

"Working conditions at the Maserati plant are getting tougher because of the peak of demand," said Federico Bellono, a leader of the leftist Fiom-Cgil union who joined the strike. He credits the protest with highlighting the need for better labor relations.

"He came from U.S. to retract his decision" on transferring staff to Grugliasco, said Bellono, whose union won a legal battle against Marchionne at Italy's highest court last year to get its members accepted by the carmaker.

Now, Marchionne must find a breakthrough on stalled wage talks after eight months of negotiations. Unions are asking for an annual increase of $410, while Fiat has countered with an offer of $342. Marchionne argues that Fiat's unprofitable car production in Europe make salary increases difficult.

"We need to sit down and find a solution on the wage contract renewal," Di Maulo said.

Marchionne made another trip to Grugliasco on Monday after he attended the annual meeting of the local employers' lobby. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who was scheduled to attend the event, remained in Rome to oversee a Cabinet meeting.

"The overwhelming majority of the workers here support the original plan for the factory," Marchionne told reporters at Monday's event. "Some fringe behavior doesn't reflect what is really going on here."

Information for this article was contributed by Flavia Rotondi and Daniele Lepido of Bloomberg News.

Business on 07/01/2014

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