The Italian bishops are deeply concerned about the grave crisis (-20% of car sales in recent times) which has hit the Fiat Group: it has led to the placing on short time of 5600 workers at various Fiat plants in northern and southern Italy and the prospect of “prolonged mobility” for 8100 employees out of a total workforce of 36,000. The Fiat crisis is not any old crisis: for over a century the Agnelli family, who still own over 50% of the equity, though with a minority stake now in the hands of the Americans of General Motors, has represented the symbol par excellence of “made in Italy”. The car sector is however in the eye of the storm practically everywhere in the world and the concentration of marques is advancing rapidly. General Motors, for example, already owns Opel and Volvo in Europe and has an option to purchase Fiat which it might avail itself of in a few years’ time. A drastic reduction of Fiat, as a result of the crisis, would also involve the collapse of thousands of small and medium businesses involved in the spinoff of Fiat’s car production, especially in the areas of Turin, Milan, Cassino and Termini Imerese, in Sicily, with a deterioration of the already grave situation of unemployment especially in the centre and south of the country. At their recent general assembly in Collevalenza (18-21 November) the Italian bishops expressed their deep concern about the Fiat crisis. “It’s an alarming situation they said in their final communiqué which goes far beyond the industrial plants directly involved”.
