Reconciliation between Fiat and Fiom signed over autoworkers

(ANSA) – Turin, December 11 – A reconciliation agreement between automaker Fiat and hardline metalworkers’ union Fiom on Wednesday was signed in a Turin courthouse.

The document brings an end to a long-standing dispute between the automaker and Fiom, the metalworkers’ arm of Italy’s biggest and most left-wing trade union CGIL.

In the document, Fiat accepts a July ruling of the Constitutional Court, which ordered Fiat to revive relations with Fiom.

The dispute goes back to Fiom’s refusal in 2011 to sign a collective contract.

Fiat in September said it would accept the high-court ruling to allow Fiom to represent workers, but also vowed to end its “commitment” to Italy unless the government draws up new rules for labour relations.

Fiom has engaged in a series of bitter fights with Fiat in recent years over the carmaker’s efforts to introduce new, more-flexible working contracts and practices which the union fears will undermine workers’ rights.

Fiat chief Sergio Marchionne has long accused unions of dragging down loss-making plants in Italy which are already being subsidised by the rest of the global group.

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