Anti-union discrimination: 12 workers who had participated in a protest in front of the gates of the IKEA plant in Piacenza were dismissed in November 2012. Nine of them are members of the Confederazione dei Comitati di Base (COBAS). Following negotiations management stated that the workers would not be dismissed but transferred to another branch. Violent protests had taken place at the plant in October and November when police intervened to stop the workers blockade in front of the company. The protests were against wage inequality, excessive workload, unpaid wages, and anti-union discrimination.

In June 2012, a labour court ruled in favour of 145 members of the Federazione Impiegati Operai Metallurgici (FIOM) – Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro (CGIL) who had not been reemployed by FIAT since the company began to reallocate jobs to the factory in Pomigliano. Not a single member of FIOM was among more than 2,000 newly hired employees at the Pomigliano factory. The court ordered FIAT to stop its discriminatory behaviour and in future to provide for 8.9 per cent presence of FIOM members in the workforce. In addition FIAT will have to pay compensation of 3,000 Euros to each of 19 workers who filed the suit.

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