Automotive workers to hold national protest in Rome on Friday.

Workers in Italy's entire automotive sector including the Stellantis automaker group will down tools on Friday 18 October, with a major demonstration planned in the centre of Rome.

The industrial action has been organised by the Fim-Cisl, Fiom-Cgil and Uilm-Uil trade unions representing autoworkers, a powerful lobby in Italy, to oppose job cuts and demand a relaunch of the automotive industry.

Stellantis, the world's fourth largest automaker, is struggling globally and is coming under pressure from Giorgia Meloni's government to provide clarity about its production plans in Italy.

Formed from the 2021 merger of the Italian-American conglomerate Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and the French PSA Group, Stellantis manages and produces 14 brands including Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroën, Fiat, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot and Vauxhall.

Over the past 17 years Stellantis has cut its Italian production by almost 70 per cent and in the first half of this year the troubled automaker recorded a steep drop in output at most of its Italian plants.

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares has blamed EU carbon emission rules for hiking production costs, indicating recently that the French-Italian multinational may be forced to close assembly plants in the face of competition from China.

Tavares said on Monday that he "could not rule out" job cuts, claiming "I'm not a magician" and reiterating the need for additional state incentives to spur demand for electric cars.

During a parliamentary hearing last week, Tavares said that production was too expensive in Italy, due to high energy costs, unless the government delivered additional incentives for the automotive sector. 

Tavares' intervention in parliament was poorly received, including by opposition parties, with the leader of the centre-left Partito Democratico (PD) Elly Schlein saying that her party would support the striking metalworkers.

In a statement on Wednesday, Stellantis said it was determined to “ensure the continuity” of its Italian operations but noted that it is facing “a challenging path requiring difficult choices and offering no easy solutions.”

The company said the production of Fiat Panda cars would be suspended for several days next month, affecting workers at the Pomigliano d'Arco, Termoli and Pratola Serra factories.

The strike on Friday comes amid rising tensions between Stellantis and the Italian government which accuses the car-making giant of relocating assembly plants to low-cost countries to the detriment of Italian factories.

Deputy premier and transport minister Matteo Salvini said recently that Tavares "should be ashamed and apologise" for claiming that car production in Italy was too expensive unless the government delivered fresh incentives for the sector.

Pointing the finger at Tavares, Salvini said: "He is no longer in a position to ask for anything for how they mismanaged and badly administered a historic Italian company."

The Rome demonstration will begin at Piazza Barberini at 09.30 and make its way to Piazza del Popolo where Stellantis workers and the leaders of the Fim-Cisl, Fiom-Cgil and Uilm-Uil trade unions will speak.

Friday's protest, which is being held under the banner "Let's change gear: let's accelerate towards a fairer future", will result in traffic restrictions and the re-routing of around a dozen city bus lines.

Image: Protest march by metalworkers and unions against the closure of the Stellantis Mirafiori plant in Turin on 18 April 2024. Photo credit: Antonello Marangi / Shutterstock.com.