Italy's largest manufacturer Fiat SpA is to quit the country's leading business group, Confindustria, as it believes the group's collective labour contracts put it at a disadvantage on the international stage.
The move comes after a groundbreaking deal to boost productivity and cut absenteeism struck by the carmaker last year was subjected to legal challenges by a trade union and after national legislation introducing greater labour flexibility met resistance.
"Fiat, which is engaged in the creation of a major international group ... cannot afford to operate in Italy in an environment of uncertainty that is so incongruous with the conditions that exist elsewhere in the industrialised world," CEO Sergio Marchionne said in a letter to Confindustria published on Monday.
Read Article