Fiat workers vote in crucial referendum at Italian plant

The carmaker has planned to invest 700 million euros (850 million dollars) to move production of the Fiat Panda from Poland to the Pomigliano d'Arco plant in the impoverished region around the southern city of Naples.

But to move production of its bestselling model to Italy, Fiat wants to have the plant work 24-hours a day, six days a week, and has set as a condition for workers to agree to longer working hours and shorter breaks.

If they do not, Fiat chief executive Sergio Marchionne said, the plant could shut down as early as next year.

On June 15, the plan was approved by all of the unions except FIOM-CGIL, which argues the plan hurts workers' rights, giving Fiat the power to sanction and eventually fire workers over "abnormal" absences from the workplace.

FIOM says this rule compromises workers' right to strike.

"For us, this referendum has no validity and we will not take into account the result," Fernando Liuzzi, a FIOM spokesman, told AFP.

"Clearly the 'yes' is going to win. How can you expect a worker to vote for the shutdown of his plant? What we are asking is that Fiat change this accord, Liuzzi added.

Several politicians on the left have also criticized the plan as a step back in workers' rights.

The Panda, an inexpensive hatchback, is the group's best-selling model and is currently produced in the southern Polish plant of Tychy, near the border with the Czech Republic.

Fiat envisions building 270,000 cars a year at the rejuvenated Pomigliano plant, compared with just 35,000 vehicles in 2009 -- a year marked by several periods of temporary layoffs due to the global economic downturn.

"This agreement would represent a symbol for Italy's industrial system, which would turn a corner... Should the 'yes' win, labour relations in Italy could radically change, moving towards greater collaboration between companies and unions," Maurizio Del Conte, labour economics professor at the Bocconi University in Milan, told AFP.

"It would confirm Fiat's fundamental role in entrepreneurship in Italy," he added.

The vote, which opened early on Tuesday, will end at 1900 GMT.

"I think that workers will understand that in a sensitive region like that of Pomigliano, saying 'no' to a 700-million-euro investment will create problems," Emma Marcegaglia, the head of Italy's employers' lobby said on Tuesday.

"It would be negative signal in our ability to attract investments. Who would want to invest in Italy after that?," she added.

Marchionne, who is also the head of troubled US carmaker Chrysler, announced in January that he would shut down Fiat's plant in Termini Imerese, Sicily, at the end of 2011.

Fiat is Italy's biggest private employer with a national workforce of some 80,000 people.