MILAN (Reuters) – Carmaker Stellantis and unions on Thursday signed an agreement to cut up to 1,820 more workers from the group’s Italian operations this year through voluntary redundancies, workers’ representatives said.
Incentives will vary based on functions and seniority, they said.
Manual workers at least four years below retirement age who agree to leave will receive no less than 55,000 euros ($55,940), plus an extra 20,000 euros if they depart by Sept. 30, the unions said in joint statement.
Office workers and middle managers will also be offered relocation schemes, they added.
The redundancies announced on Thursday include 480 exits detailed in a preliminary deal between Stellantis and unions, but are in addition to over 700 voluntary job cuts agreed in Italy for this year under a previous accord.
The Italian-French automaker currently employs about 49,000 people in Italy.
Leftist FIOM-CGIL, the only metalworkers’ union which has not signed the agreement, said in a separate statement that voluntary redundancies at Stellantis could total over 4,000 units in the 2021-2022 period.
A spokesperson for the automaker confirmed details of the agreement reached with the majority of unions, and said it was “positive and innovative”.
Gianluca Ficco of the UILM union said that according to most estimates, electrification puts at risk over 30% of jobs in the automotive industry, making it necessary to manage the transition in a “socially acceptable” way.
“With this agreement we’re trying to manage in advance the job impact of the energy transition,” he said.
($1 = 0.9832 euros)
(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari; Editing by Jan Harvey)
