I was born in the small town of Termini Imerese,
40 km near Palermo Sicily.
When I was a child my father brought me to fish octopus in a clear sea with dream beach. After arrived the Fiat industry with the central electrothermic, my town, where lived farmers and fishermens, is transformed into an industrial center of southern Italy. The city grew as a tumor, with money came the mafia, the sea was polluted by oil discharged from tanker ships, all thought of becoming rich. After all this Fiat decides to lay off 18,000 workers and close and go away. We have become rich? No, we are poor as before but with a natural and social ecosystem in destruction. Fiat NO thanks, we do not give up.
"Workers at Fiat’s Sicilian plant in Termini Imerese on Thursday continued their temporary work stoppages to protest uncertainty over the factory’s future.
Meanwhile, unions at other Fiat factories met to consider other labor actions, including a refusal to work overtime, to draw attention to the fact that they feel left in the dark about Fiat’s global expansion plans and the effect these will have on jobs in Italy.
Fiat has already negotiated a partnership deal to become a controlling partner in the American automaker Chrysler, but it is its proposed merger with Opel, the main marque in General Motors’ European arm, which has unions in Italy and Germany worried.
Plans allegedly drawn up by Fiat, but which CEO Sergio Marchionne has not confirmed, indicated the shutting down or ‘reorientation’ of Termini Imerese and another plant in Italy, which many believe will be Pomigliano d’Arco near Naples, while an Opel engine and parts plant in Germany also risks being shut down or seeing its work force drastically reduced.
According to union sources at Opel, some 18,000 workers risk losing their jobs in Germany and Italy if the merger goes through.
GM must at least find a partner for its European arm, which includes Saab of Sweden, before the end of the month in order to receive federal bail-out funds. Workers at Termini Imerese staged two 90-minute work stoppages on Thursday morning and blocked a local highway to draw attention to their protest."
Hi Filippo, another sad story of big business wins and the little guy loses, most terrible about the pollution of the sea.
RispondiEliminaCiao Linda,I wrote this post because I feel a little guilty about not being in Sicily with friends and relatives to protest
RispondiEliminait makes me sad to read this because it reminded me to of my grandfather telling me of fishing for squid in the sea off of palermo... and now it has been soiled like every other body of water on earth... after human's are extinct, their unread story will be the same everywhere... a powerful, wealthy few became rich and powerful by raping the earth's resources for their own personal gains and ruin the habitat of everyone else.
RispondiElimina