Fiat workers block port in lay-off protest

Workers held up sea traffic between mainland Italy and Sicily on Friday and staged marches throughout the country to protest against thousands of job cuts at the crisis-hit carmaker Fiat. Some 700 workers blocked all commercial and passenger traffic in the Port of Messina, on the Sicilian side of the strait that separates the island from the mainland.

Some 8,000 Fiat workers are due to be laid off in one of Italy’s worst labour crises in years, including 1,800 at Termini Imerese near the Sicilian capital Palermo, exacerbating unemployment in one of Italy’s poorest regions. “We are fighting for the economic future of

all Sicily,” read a banner held aloft at the Port.

Fiat wants to shut the Termini Imerese plant from early December but first needs government approval for a sweeping restructuring, including thousands of temporary lay-offs, aimed at pulling its car unit out of deep losses.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been scrambling to find a solution in a region that traditionally votes conservative. Sources told Reuters on Thursday that ministers would urge Fiat to review its plans to ensure that Termini Imerese, which produces the popular Punto city car, remains open for at least two weeks a month. (Reuters)