Trade unions to Stellantis: ‘More production volumes for Italia, a solution for Cassino’

A list of urgent issues, requests and weaknesses in Stellantis’s Italian production operations, scrutinised by CISL metalworkers and set out in writing ahead of the presentation of the Industrial Plan on 21 May. The initiative, promoted by the national secretariat of Fim CISL, brought together around a hundred trade unionists, part of the Stellantis Group’s national coordination committee, from all the Group’s plants in Italia.

“We are calling on the Group to confirm its commitment not to close plants, production facilities or other operations, and not to resort to redundancies or unilateral job cuts,” is the first issue raised by Ferdinando Uliano, national secretary of Fim Cisl. Low production volumes are weighing heavily on Italia, although they have been recovering in the first four months of the year, and the situation is particularly critical for the Cassino hub, which is facing another year of solidarity contracts, but with production and staff numbers hanging by a thread.

In this context, the Chinese “variable” plays an important role, namely the potential expansion of the partnership with Leapmotor beyond Spain and the ongoing discussions between the group led by Antonio Filosa and groups such as Dongfeng regarding potential joint production in Europe. Following last week’s announcement of the intention to base Leapmotor’s first European production facility at the Zaragoza site and to collaborate on the engineering and development of the new compact SUV for Opel, CEO Filosa stated that the decision “reflects our intention to deepen our partnership and take a further step towards even greater future collaborations”. A move that would suggest the possibility of extending the industrial collaboration with the Chinese company – in which Stellantis has invested a 21% stake and holds a 51% controlling interest in the company that distributes the cars on the European market – to other European countries, including Italia.

In essence, Fim Cisl is calling for the ‘Piano Italia’ to be superseded and for industrial orders to be expanded to the Group’s Italian factories. The list of demands includes a reaffirmation of commitments to develop the design and research of product lines and production for Italian brands (Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Maserati), as well as commercial vehicles; the strengthening of Italia’s leadership through the development and allocation of future powertrains; and the confirmation that Jeep models for Europe will be produced in Italy. The union is therefore attempting to raise the stakes and call for an expansion of the industrial scope of the ‘Piano Italia’, which on its own is not sufficient to safeguard the ‘Made in Italy’ car industry.

For Mirafiori, Fim Cisl is calling for the allocation of another new mass-market model or the development of electric and hybrid cars, as recommended by the EU, whilst for the engineering and design sector, the request is to revive and revitalise the expertise developed at the Fiat Research Centre. For Pomigliano, the focus is on the production of two new compact models on the STLA Small platform from 2028 onwards. The thinking for Melfi is clear: ‘The Jeep Renegade and the 500x have been a production success, partly because they catered to a consumer segment with a car from a specific market segment, featuring their own iconic brand. It is essential to ensure their development and continued production at Italian plants as part of Stellantis’s product range.’