Trade unions anxious about future of Fiat plant in Tychy

News about the plans to relocate the production of the Fiat Panda from the Polish plant in Tychy to Pomigliano d’Arco in Italy sparked controversy over the future of the Tychy plant among trade unions at Fiat Auto Poland. While the Independent and Self-Governing Trade Union Solidarity claims that there is no threat of job loss, the ‘August 80’ Free Trade Union suggests that potential relocation will contribute to a significant decrease in employment at the Tychy plant.

News about strategic plans of Fiat

According to the ‘Fabbrica Italia’ project announced by the Fiat Group on 21 April 2010, the corporation will invest €700 million in its Italian factory in the southwestern town of Pomigliano d’Arco. It has been declared that the ‘Giambattista Vico’ plant will take over production of the Fiat Panda III model in mid 2011. The factory in Pomigliano d’Arco should increase its technical capacity utilisation rate from 14% to 90%. Meanwhile, the Fiat plant in Tychy in southern Poland, where the current model of Fiat Panda II has been manufactured since 2003, is due to decrease its capacity utilisation rate from 93% to 73%.

In fact, the Fiat Auto Poland plant in Tychy is one of the most productive factories of the Italian corporation. The plant currently employs 6,137 workers. In 2009, they produced over 606,000 cars, more than half of which were Fiat Panda II models. Some 70% of car parts used for the production are provided by around 100 automotive suppliers located in Poland. The majority of cars (97.5%) produced in Tychy are exported.

Although the plans to manufacture the new Panda model in Pomigliano d’Arco had already been announced by the end of 2009 (IT1002019I), their official confirmation in April 2010 raised serious concerns over the future of the plant in Tychy. While the spokesperson of Fiat Auto Poland, Bogusław Cieślar, suggested that he had no bad news for employees in Tychy and mentioned plans to launch the production of a new car model in Tychy, he also said that it was too early to give further details.

Mixed reaction of trade unions

In response to the announcement by Fiat, two company trade unions issued their statements. The ‘August 80’ Free Trade Union (Wolny Związek Zawodowy ‘Sierpień 80’, WZZ Sierpień 80) emphasised that the relocation of Fiat Panda production from Tychy will ‘mean the decrease in production by 250,000 cars a year, the closing of production lines and mass redundancies’. The trade union estimated that along with automotive suppliers providing parts for the Tychy plant, about 10,000 jobs in the Polish automotive sector might be endangered. WZZ Sierpień 80 also criticised the Polish government for its limited involvement in the future of the Tychy plant.

However, the President of the Independent and Self-Governing Trade Union Solidarity (Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy ‘Solidarność’, NSZZ Solidarność), Wanda Stróżyk, did not share the opinion of WZZ Sierpień 80. Referring to the information provided during the meeting of the Fiat European Works Council on 22 April 2010, Ms Stróżyk emphasised that plans to produce the new Panda model in Italy did not need to affect the level of employment in Tychy. She stated that it had not been specified how long Fiat Panda II would continue to be manufactured in Tychy and suggested that ‘it is possible that this very popular brand will be upgraded and will still be present on the market alongside the new generation Panda’. Ms Stróżyk added that ‘there is no talk about mass redundancies in Tychy’ and described the revelations of WZZ Sierpień 80 as a ‘wicked and cynical political game’.

Commentary

The tensions between NSZZ Solidarność and WZZ Sierpień 80 at Fiat Auto Poland are nothing new. It should be noted that WZZ Sierpień 80 was established at the Tychy plant in 1993 as a radical competitor to NSZZ Solidarność. However, in recent years, NSZZ Solidarność has been more active in voicing pay claims (PL0702039I), accusing WZZ Sierpień 80 of cooperating with the management. In this context, the approach of WZZ Sierpień 80 might be interpreted as an attempt to raise its profile among employees.

Nevertheless, it is difficult to argue that the decisions of Fiat will leave employees in Tychy unaffected. Notably, NSZZ Solidarność also admitted that the plans to double the production of Fiat in Italian factories might be of concern, because it could lead to a reduction in the number of cars produced outside of Italy.

Adam Mrozowicki, Institute of Public Affairs and University of Wroclaw