Fiat Pushes Work Ethic at an Italian Plant

fresh from rescuing Chrysler in the United States, Sergio Marchionne of Fiat is pushing these workers to be more devoted to their jobs, mirroring a larger effort by the government to improve Italy’s competitiveness and reduce its debt through austerity measures

a plant just north of Naples, which produces Alfa Romeos, is in many ways an extreme example of Italy’s woes. The 5,200 employees have been operating the plant at 32 percent capacity for the last two years, since demand collapsed during the economic crisis….Unemployment and growth rates here are among the worst in the country, while productivity has been about 20 percent lower.

After months of tension, 63 percent of the employees voted in June to accept Fiat’s plan, which would penalize employees for abusing sick days, give them shorter lunch breaks and forbid them from striking during periods of high demand

Absenteeism has fallen to about 3 percent from about 30 percent a couple of years ago,

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