27 June, 2012On 21 June 2012 the Italian federation of metalworkers FIOM-CGIL celebrated victory after the Court of Rome ruled that FIAT had discriminated against 145 workers at its factory in Pomigliano, near Napples and demanded their immediate reinstatement by the employer.
The labour court judge recognized the fact of “collective discrimination” towards 145 members of FIOM who have not been reemployed by FIAT since the company began to reallocate jobs at the factory in Pomigliano. The court ordered FIAT to stop its discriminatory behaviour and in future to provide for 8.9 per cent presence of FIOM members in the workforce. In addition FIAT will have to pay compensation of 3,000 Euros to each of 19 workers who filed the suit.
According to the union not a single member of FIOM was among more than 2,000 newly hired employees at Pomigliano factory (FIP) out of 5,000 workers already employed for the establishment at Gian Battista Vico Fiat.
Mauruzio Landini, General Secretary of FIOM-CGIL commented on the court decision, saying, “FIOM considers of fundamental democratic importance the decision of the Court of Rome, which reaffirmed the principle of equality and non-discrimination."
The full text in Italian of the court decision is published on the FIOM-CGIL website here: http://www.fiom.cgil.it/auto/fiat/documentazione/sentenze/12_06_21-romaxpomigliano.pdf
Back in 2010 when the company announced of its plans to invest 700 million Euros into the Pomigliano plant and shift production of its best-selling Panda model from a factory in Tychy, Poland to Pomigliano in exchange for heavy concessions on the part of employees, including possible sanctions against absenteeism and strikers. The concessions were in violation of the collective agreement in place at the time and FIOM members responded with industrial actions. As a result the employer resorted to a discriminatory policy when employing new workers.