FCA has reached an "agreement in principle" with the American trade union UAW for the renewal of agreements with employees in the sector for the next 4 years. The agreement will also be the basis of the negotiations with the other Detroit car manufacturers (General Motors and Ford) and must now be ratified by the union members who work for FCA (about 40 employees). The CEO of FCA, Sergio Marchionne, participated directly in the negotiations. The official announcement came during a press conference by Marchionne himself and the president of the automobile union, Dennis Williams.
"I think we have achieved the main objectives - said the president of Uaw - but now it's up to the union members to have their say". For now, neither side has wanted to reveal the details of the contract. The auto union's goal was to achieve higher wages, the phasing out of the "two-thirds" system in which new hires are paid significantly less, and curbs on health insurance spending.
Marchionne said that the inequality in the economic treatment of new hires will be eliminated over time and spoke of the maturity reached in relations with the union.
The news comes after the latest positive data on sales announced yesterday: in July, the group's registrations in Europe rose by 16%, a much better result than the trend of the market as a whole, which in the same month recorded growth of 9,5%, to 1,18 million vehicles. After yesterday's +2,8%, the FCA share on the Stock Exchange gained 1,7% at 13,26 this morning.
