Italy’s biggest trade union CGIL has given a tentative, conditional green light to an accord with Fiat to boost production at its Pomigliano d’Arco plant near Naples. CGIL said a final decision, however, would have to be made by its autoworkers union FIOM. Italy’s other leading unions – including CISL, UIL and UGL – gave their green light to the plan on Friday. All workers at Pomigliano will be able to vote in a referendum on the Fiat accord. Fiat has demanded major union concessions to boost productivity at the Pomigliano plant in order to move production of its top-selling Panda model there from Poland.

It has also made it clear that without an accord not only would it not invest 700 million euros in Pomigliano but that it would close the plant definitively. Moving Panda production to Pomigliano is also a cornerstone of Fiat’s plan to boost domestic production from 650,000 cars a year to over one million. Following a meeting of its central committee Monday afternoon, CGIL issued a statement saying "in Pomigliano and the surrounding province there is no alternative to the plant. For this reason it is essential that Fiat go ahead with its announced investments".

The union added that it saw no problems in regard to the use of the plant, its productivity and more flexibility in shifts. However, the accord drawn up by Fiat, the union observed, introduced questionable matters regarding individual rights and labor laws. CGIL, the statement added, agreed that the problem of absenteeism needed to be tackled, but "some proposals advanced by the company appear to be illegitimate in regard to sickness leave and the right to strike and could even violate national law and the constitution". For this reason, the union said, "it is up to autoworkers to promote discussion, involving the rank-and-file, in order to define the correct response by workers". The Fiat demands unions have objected to the most regard imposing fines on workers and unions for failure to respect in-house accords and suspending pension contribution payments when there are unusually high absenteeism, for example when there is an important soccer game, and it reaches 50%. After refusing to sign the accord on Friday, CGIL leader Guglielmo Epifani softened his stance at the weekend when he said "Pomigliano has no alternative, Naples has no alternative. Both need employment, development and investment".

Epifani made his remarks on Sunday at a national meeting of the CISL union which was also attended by Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti who said the accord on Pomigliano was the right way to move forward in contract negotiations. Labor Minister Maurizio Sacconi said on Monday that he was optimistic over a positive conclusion to the situation at Pomigliano thanks to "a responsible approach by Epifani". Sacconi also said he agreed with Tremonti that the Pomigliano accord represented a "turning point in industrial polices and relations". Earlier this year, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said plants like the one near Naples "can operate only if they do so at full capacity".