Fiat Pushes Work Ethic at Italian Plant

By LIZ ALDERMAN Published: July 22, 2010

POMIGLIANO D’ARCO, Italy — In a country where Fiats line the streets, Italians have long clung to a revealing proverb: as Fiat goes, so goes Italy.

Fiat’s efforts to make its workers more productive at a plant just north of Naples are testing that maxim as never before, and may signal whether Italians are willing to embrace the kind of change needed for Italy to skirt financial ruin and be more competitive with the countries of Northern Europe and the rest of the world.

Even some workers here in Pomigliano, Fiat’s lowest-producing plant, complain of ingrained bad habits, citing peers who call in sick to earn money while working another job or skip work with a fake doctor’s note — especially when the local soccer team is playing.

Now, fresh from rescuing Chrysler in the United States, Sergio Marchionne of Fiat is pushing these workers to be more devoted to their jobs, mirroring a larger effort by the government to improve Italy’s competitiveness and reduce its debt through austerity measures.

But shifting a culture toward work and closing the divide with Italy’s northern neighbors won’t be easy. Embedded for generations here — and on other parts of Europe’s often-sweltering southern rim — is a lifestyle that values flexibility for workers.

To some, Fiat is drawing the curtain on a humane working life.

“He wants to impose American-style standards,” Nello Niglio, a factory worker, said of Mr. Marchionne’s requirements to work longer hours and cut back on absences. “But too much work is going to kill our workers.”

Much is riding on Italy being able to persuade its people to change their work habits if their financial futures are going to improve, both individually and as a nation.

Even if Italy escapes the kind of sovereign debt crisis that engulfed Greece earlier this year — and that is not certain — it has a mountain of debt that it needs to trim in coming years. While its deficit is low, at 5 percent of gross domestic product, debt is 115 percent, the same as that of Greece. To reduce it, Italy needs more robust economic growth to stoke government revenue.

A turnaround for Italy, which sported the undesirable “sick man of Europe” title until last year, becomes more crucial as Europe stumbles toward a two-track recovery in which Italy, Greece and other southern countries lag Germany, France and more productive economies to the north. Recent forecasts have reduced growth projections for the southern tier.

Economists fear that if unchecked, the financial divide that has long existed between Northern and Southern Europe could lead to instability in the 16-nation euro club over time.

“The fact that you have a great divide between the north and the south is penalizing in the sense that if part of a country is underperforming it can hurt the macroeconomic structure as a whole,” said Davide Stroppa, global economist at the Italian bank UniCredit. “If you have a large part of the euro zone underperforming, it’s clearly a problem.”

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is tackling the issue in an austerity package introduced in May that includes tying public salary to productivity gains, raising the retirement age and slashing government spending. While Italians are not denying that austerity is necessary, an estimated one million people went on strike last month to protest the latest squeeze on workers.

In Pomigliano, as elsewhere in Italy, workers acknowledged in recent interviews that the country must recalibrate. “The competitiveness of the entire world is changing,” said Gennario Nacco, a 21-year veteran of the Fiat plant.

The factory, which produces Alfa Romeos, is in many ways an extreme example of Italy’s woes. The 5,200 employees have been operating the plant at 32 percent capacity for the last two years, since demand collapsed during the economic crisis.

Keeping the plant open would seem to make little economic sense. But Fiat, which generates nearly half the region’s economic activity, faced political pressure to safeguard the livelihood of about 15,000 families in a poor area gripped by organized crime. Unemployment and growth rates here are among the worst in the country, while productivity has been about 20 percent lower.

Mr. Marchionne, who engineered a stunning turnaround of Fiat in 2006, pulling it from the brink of bankruptcy, called on employees to radically alter their work ethic to compete in the global marketplace. If they did so, he vowed to spare the plant from closure and shift production of the popular Panda car back from Poland.

“The less they work, the happier they are,” observed Vittorio di Giola, owner of the Caffetteria Vicky, a favorite haunt of Fiat workers on the Viale Alfa Romeo, Pomigliano’s main drag.

That view was acknowledged by some workers, union officials and even the town’s mayor, Raffaele Russo. “There are those who don’t miss a chance to miss work,” Mr. Russo said.

Just last month, Fiat erected large television screens inside the factory when Italy played in the World Cup to encourage employees to come to work, said Mr. Nacco, the longtime worker there. Still, some people did not show up. “And Fiat was paying us to watch the game,” he said.

Yet for every worker resisting the shift, many more have decided that having a job is better than unemployment. After months of tension, 63 percent of the employees voted in June to accept Fiat’s plan, which would penalize employees for abusing sick days, give them shorter lunch breaks and forbid them from striking during periods of high demand.

In turn, Fiat would invest more than 700 million euros ($905 million) in the factory, which would operate 24 hours a day, six days a week. A third daily shift would double output to 280,000 cars annually by next summer.

Fiat declined to make Mr. Marchionne or other executives available to discuss the situation.

From the perspective of Mr. Niglio and other members of the union known as FIOM, the only one of five unions to vote against the plan, Mr. Marchionne is marching Italy on a path toward China.

“There, they work super shifts that lead to increased suicide rates,” he said, “and workers are no longer humans, but machines.” He said Fiat was crushing their right to strike, and cautioned that longer hours would diminish the quality of work. Absenteeism, he insisted, has not been a problem in the factory for years.

Many Fiat workers, however, said they had long complained to managers about employees who regularly missed shifts, a problem that they said persisted today.

“When one person is missing, it slows down the whole group and everyone has to pick up the slack,” Mr. Nacco said. “The production of 200 cars, for example, is slowed to 160 if a person is gone. Imagine when this is multiplied across the factory.”

Absenteeism has fallen to about 3 percent from about 30 percent a couple of years ago, said Crescenzo Auriemma, the secretary for the region’s umbrella group for auto unions. Managers are cracking down nonetheless, sending a doctor to the homes of employees who do not show up for work.

Mr. Nacco, along with other people who declined to be identified by name so as not to escalate tensions at the plant, said resistance would not disappear overnight. But he is hoping the new steps will guarantee a future for the factory that employed “my father, my uncles, my nephew, my sister, — and hopefully, one day, my son.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/business/global/23fiat.html?scp=2&sq=Fiat&st=cse

No hard feelings from Berlusconi as cathedral is granted £4m makeover

Ruth Gledhill and Silvia Cavasola in Rome

Last updated July 19 2010 12:47PM

Only months after he suffered a broken nose, fractured teeth and a split lip after being struck by a miniature statue of the Dome of Milan, the Italian Prime Minister has announced a €5 million (£4.2m) a year restoration programme for the symbol of the Lombard capital.

Silvio Berlusconi’s face bears no sign of the attack by a mentally ill man in Milan in December last year but his supporters hope that Mr Berlusconi’s reputation also will go some way to being restored by the government donation to the 14th-century cathedral.

Mr Berlusconi, 73, who has had cosmetic surgery to make him look more youthful, was lauded as a “great statesman” with “great charisma” and as a “man who leads the country with great responsibility and lucidity” by the president of Milan province Guido Podestà in an award ceremony at the Dome last night. At the €2,000 euro ticket event, which also included a performance by the “French Sinatra” Charles Aznavour, Mr Podesta described him as a “man who has exceptional human and entrepreneurial qualities”.

In an interview with the paper Corriere della Sera, Aznavour says he first met Mr Berlusconi 30 years ago and describes him as “interesting, intelligent, humorous” but emphasised that he was speaking about the person, not the politician.

But as the Italian Parliament’s lower house yesterday began debating an unprecedented programme of public spending cuts, already passed by the Senate or upper house, his enemies will not let him forget that it was his Government that cut the subsidy in 2008.

Opponents criticised the award. Filippo Penati, head of the Democratic Party in Milan and former president of the province, claimed the cause of the Dome had been hijacked for political purposes and the “cult of the personality” of Mr Berlusconi.

The Dome is regarded as an architectural, cultural and social emblem throughout Italy and the world and his presence there and the award is seen as an attempt to cultivate the northern federalists, Lega Nord.

It came as demonstrators gathered in Rome to protest against the public spending cuts on a day when the country’s health service was crippled by a 24-hour strike. The British Embassy reassured tourists there was no need for concern as temperatures hit 44C in Rome and 50C on the Metro, which has no air-conditioning. Emergency services such as ambulances are still operating.

However 40,000 operations have been cancelled and all non-emergency services shut as the country’s doctors, nurses and support staff strike over cuts in pay and conditions. Twelve thousand doctors on contracts are not having their positions renewed.

Today Italy’s parliament will debate a new “gag law” intended to clamp down on news reports before criminal trials. It carries a potential penalty of up to €450,000 for publishers and 30 days in jail or up to €10,000 for journalists who publish leaked material obtained through telephone wiretaps.

However, journalists working for Vatican Radio or L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, will continue to be able to publish pre-trial reports because the Vatican is a different state, observers said.

En Italie, spectaculaire journée sans informations

pour Le Monde.fr | 09.07.10

Pour "La Repubblica", la loi Bavaglio signifie la négation du droit des citoyens à être informés.

Pas de quotidiens dans les kiosques, pas de nouvelles à la radio et à la télévision, pas de mise à jour des sites internet d'information. C'est la "journée du silence", aujourd'hui, contre la "loi-bâillon", le texte voulu par le gouvernement Berlusconi pour limiter les écoutes téléphoniques et leur publication.

Une grève indispensable, selon le Syndicat national des journalistes (FNSI) pour alerter l'opinion publique sur la gravité des dispositions de la loi en discussion qui mine la liberté même d'expression. Le texte met en effet un frein à l'usage des écoutes par la magistrature dans ses enquêtes, prévoit de lourdes amendes et même la prison pour journalistes et éditeurs en cas de publication de celles-ci, mais interdit surtout aux journalistes de publier, avant le procès, toute nouvelle au sujet d'affaires judiciaires.

Face à un tel danger, pour certaines associations qui se battent contre la "loi-bâillon" et plusieurs journaux, le silence forcé d'aujourd'hui apparaît presque comme une contradiction. Au lieu de se taire, beaucoup auraient préféré plutôt la publication d'éditoriaux sur la liberté de la presse ou encore des articles justement sur les affaires en cours.

Des quotidiens, comme La Stampa de Turin ouIl Fatto, adhèrent à la grève tout en se déclarant perplexes sur sa modalité. D'autres, comme Il Riformista sont présents dans les kiosques avecLibero, Il Giornale, Il Foglio et Il Tempo, proches de Silvio Berlusconi. La Repubblica, qui mène la bataille avec des Post-it jaunes – devenus le symbole de la lutte – signalant les articles qui seront impubliables, a choisi le silence. Dans un éditorial publié la veille et disponible sur son site, le quotidien explique que la grève est le seul moyen pour sensibiliser l'opinion publique.

PREMIERS RÉSULTATS

Dans un pays où la majorité des gens n'est informée qu'au travers des journaux télévisés, souvent proches du pouvoir, les journalistes s'efforcent de faire comprendre qu'il ne s'agit pas d'une grève corporatiste mais qu'ils se battent avant toute chose pour la liberté d'information des citoyens.

Si la "loi-bâillon" dénoncée par l'opposition et un large mouvement dans l'opinion publique, avait été en vigueur, les récentes affaires de corruption qui ont éclaté et poussé à la démission, notamment, d'un ministre, n'aurait jamais été connues par l'opinion publique.

La mobilisation de ces derniers jours et cette journée de grève commencent en tout cas à apporter des résultats. La majorité qui exigeait l'adoption définitive, au pas de charge, de la loi par les députés, avant les vacances d'été, semble avoir mis de côté son projet. La loi serait passée difficilement dans un tel climat. La majorité serait maintenant prête à des modifications et devra probablement attendre la rentrée parlementaire.

Salvatore Aloïse

http://www.lemonde.fr/europe/article/2010/07/09/en-italie-spectaculaire-journee-sans-informations_1385928_3214.html

Tres detenidos en Italia por conspirar a favor del Gobierno ante el Constitucional

Internacional

El juez les acusa de "intentar condicionar a los órganos del Estado".- Los arrestados se reunieron con hombres de Berlusconi para intentar aprobar el 'Laudo Alfano'.- La orden de arresto establece sus relaciones con la masonería y las mafias

MIGUEL MORA | Roma 08/07/2010

El empresario sardo Flavio Carboni, de 78 años, ha sido arrestado hoy en Italia por orden del juez de Roma que investiga un gigantesco escándalo de corrupción en la realización de parques eólicos de la isla. La orden de arresto implica a varios dirigentes políticos del PDL, el partido de Silvio Berlusconi, en una conspiración secreta destinada, afirma el juez, a influenciar el voto del Tribunal Constitucional sobre el Laudo Alfano, la ley de impunidad presentada por el Gobierno en 2009, que fue finalmente declarada inconstitucional.

Junto a Carboni, un conocido intermediario sardo ligado a la masonería y que fue acusado y absuelto del asesinato del banquero Roberto Calvi en los años ochenta, han sido detenidos un ex dirigente democristiano campano, Pasquale Lombardi, y el empresario napolitano Arcangelo Martino.

La acusación contra los tres arrestados es la de formar una "asociación secreta destinada a realizar una serie indeterminada de delitos, influir en decisiones políticas, pilotar procesos, decidir los nombramientos de componentes de órganos del Estado de relieve constitucional y condicionar el funcionamiento de esos órganos del Estado".

En la orden de arresto, el juez explica que el 23 de septiembre pasado, a pocos días de la decisión del Constitucional sobre la ley de inmunidad de altos cargos, tuvo lugar una reunión de los tres detenidos en la casa romana del coordinador del Pueblo de la Libertad, Denis Verdini, en la que se estableció un "intento de acercamiento a los jueces del tribunal" para lograr un veredicto positivo sobre el Laudo Alfano.

En la reunión estuvieron, además de los tres arrestados, el senador del PDL Marcello Dell'Utri, condenado a siete años por complicidad mafiosa; el secretario de Estado de Justicia, Giacomo Caliendo, y los jueces Antonio Martone y Arcibaldo Miller.

La operación, afirma el juez, fue dirigida por Lombardi, y éste a cambio de mediar solicitó al partido de Berlusconi que nombrara a Nicola Cosentino candidato al cargo de gobernador de la región de Campania. Ex secretario de Estado de Economía, Cosentino está acusado por los jueces de complicidad con la Camorra, pero su petición de arresto ha sido negada por el Parlamento.

Verdini, mano derecha de Berlusconi en el partido, está acusado de lavado de dinero negro en el ámbito de la investigación inicial, que explora la adjudicación ilegal de contratos para la realización de parques de energía eólica en Cerdeña. Según el juez, los arrestados formaron un comité de negocios que captó enormes cantidades de capital de empresarios sicilianos, calabreses y campanos presuntamente ligados a las mafias de esas regiones sureñas.

Una parte de ese capital acabó en bancos italianos, entre ellos el banco de Verdini, el Credito Cooperativo Fiorentino, y según la acusación fue usado para pagar las comisiones que facilitaron al grupo la concesión de licencias para construir parques eólicos en Cerdeña.

En la investigación inicial fue acusado también el actual presidente de la región sarda, Ugo Cappellacci, hijo del asesor fiscal de Berlusconi, y varios dirigentes regionales del PDL.

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