Luxottica Starts Temp Layoffs For 6,000 Amid Recession

Italian luxury eyewear maker Luxottica SpA (LUX.MI) will start a four-day temporary layoff that will affect about 6,000 workers in six factories across northern Italy, as economic turmoil takes its toll on the luxury sector, Italian union FILTEA-CGIL said Thursday.
"In some factories there could be more days," Belluno FILTEA-CGIL regional leader Giuseppe Colferai told Dow Jones Newswires.

Luxottica is the world's largest eyewear maker by sales and makes fashionable sunglasses for the likes of Prada and Chanel. The government sponsored layoffs will affect factories located in the Belluno, Treviso, Trento and Torino and will be implemented in increments of two days in January and February, leather, textile and shoe union FILTEA-CGIL said.
Layoffs are beginning to take place throughout the nation, after Italy entered recession in the third quarter of 2008.

Carmaker Fiat SpA (F.MI) said earlier this month that it will lay off about 2,000 office workers for the first two weeks of February, which acts as a sort of insurance against unemployment, allowing the car maker to pay its employees most of their salary with state money.
Conforama, a furniture retailer belonging to French retail-to-luxury group PPR SA (12148.FR) said last month that it plans to reorganize its Italian and Spanish operations and cut 430 jobs in Italy because of the worsening economic crisis.

Economists expect Italy's recession to deepen into 2009 and Italy's largest business lobby, Confindustria, said it expects the employment rate to soar to 8.4% in 2009, from 6.8% in 2008.
Italy is the largest exporter of clothing, textiles and shoes in the 27-member European Union.
Italy's textile, leather, shoe and eyewear industry leaders have recently formed a united front to ask the government to help sustain jobs, salaries and investments, as the global economic turmoil continues.

Company Web site: www.luxottica.it



Source : EasyBourse
[tags : recession bankrupt collapse retrenchment financial news collapse stagnation economic slowdown financial collapse world recession global recession layoff job cut]

Fiat reportedly closes most of Italian plants for one month; 48,000 workers affected

Italian automaker Fiat Group SpA (FIA.L) has shut down most of its plants in Italy for a month, laying off about 48,000 blue collar workers for an extended holiday, reports said. The shutdowns through mid January will involve 14 of the company's 20 Italian plants.

Under the temporary layoff scheme, the workers will receive reduced wages. Meanwhile, unions representing Italian auto workers reportedly warned that Fiat's decision could affect as many as 200,000 workers. The unions argued that the real number of people affected will be much higher if the knock-on effect is accounted.

"For every person employed by Fiat, there are three or four people employed by sub-contractors, which brings the total amount to something between 150,000 and 200,000 people," AFP quoted Giorgio Airaudo, head of the main Fiat union, as saying. In Turin alone, the temporary lay-off will affect 40,000 people, including 10,000 directly employed by the automaker, Airaudo reportedly stated.

Fiat has 80,000 workers in Italy. In total, the company has 178 plants and 185,000 workers worldwide. The company's plants for agriculture, construction and industrial vehicles are not affected by the shutdowns, reports said.

The Turin-based automaker has also laid off workers for periods this fall as the global auto industry is witnessing falling sales with declining demand due to the financial crisis worldwide.

The latest production cut came as European car sales fell 26% in November. Fiat witnessed a 30% decrease in its key Italian market. The company sold 71,000 new cars in November and 1.53 million cars in the first 11 months.

Opposition lawmakers in Italy have reportedly urged the government to follow France's example and intervene with financial aid to support the auto sector. However, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said any aid should be at the European level.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate last week voted down a bailout plan for the country's big three automakers, General Motors (GM: News ), Ford (F: News ) and Chrysler. The White House said it would consider using the $700 billion financial-rescue plan to avert the bankruptcy of these companies.

FIA.L ended trading at 1,411.82 pence on the LSE on November 14, up 36.55 pence, on a volume of 1.56 million shares.


Source : RTTNews
[tags : recession bankrupt collapse retrenchment financial news collapse stagnation economic slowdown financial collapse world recession global recession layoff job cut]

Italy's Pop Milano targets some 400 job cuts

Banca Popolare di Milano aims to cut its workforce nearly 5 percent to reduce costs and improve efficiency, the Milan-based bank said on Tuesday, following approval last week of long-awaited governance changes.

The company, which employs about 8,600 people, said in a statement that it is targeting about 400 job cuts based on a voluntary package and that Director General Fiorenzo Dalu will start discussions with trade unions.

"The target is to reduce the total number of employees at the three commercial banking units of the Bipiemme group (Banca Popolare di Milano) by about 400," it said in the statement.

Trade unions have a lot of clout in Pop Milano, a co-operative bank, and their influence has been seen by analysts as an obstacle to reducing its above-average cost base.

Under pressure by trade unions, the bank made a U-turn on a nearly-agreed merger with peer Banca Popolare dell'Emilia Romagna in June last year.

On Dec. 13 shareholders approved governance changes at the bank, including a reduction in the board's size and a measure on voting thresholds that could ease merger approval. The changes were in line with those proposed by the Bank of Italy.

The shares rose on Tuesday 4.01 percent to 4.1550 euros, the highest closing level since Nov. 17, outperforming the 0.91 percent rise of the DJ Stoxx index of banks .

Source : Reuters
[tags : recession bankrupt collapse retrenchment financial news collapse stagnation economic slowdown financial collapse world recession global recession layoff job cut]

Bankrupt Alitalia to be Sold to Cai

The Italian government has agreed to sell the bankrupt airline Alitalia to a business consortium.

The move paves the way for the re-launch of the troubled carrier after a two-year hunt for a buyer.

The Italian group, Cai, is paying 1.05bn euros (£878m; $1.3bn) for Alitalia, including its debts.

The administrator overseeing Alitalia's bankruptcy must now formally approve the move, but has already said he will give this sale the go-ahead.

With no other bidders in the fray and Alitalia's cash likely to run out this month, the Cai group's takeover was never in any danger of being rejected.

Foreign partner

The airline filed for bankruptcy in August, weighed down by high labour costs, strikes, surging oil prices and political interference.

The Italian government's approval on Wednesday is the final stage in a drawn-out rescue process for the airline.

It came a week after the European Commission told Alitalia, to repay a 300m-euro loan to the Italian government, which the Commission said amounted to illegal state aid.

While the sale still faces opposition from some trade unions at Alitalia which have rejected new labour contracts under the takeover - it is now going ahead.

Protesting workers have led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights over the past 10 days and Alitalia has said it will have to cancel 100 flights a day this month.

However, Cai's chief executive, Rocco Sabelli, said he was confident of success.

"We are working to bring this complex and delicate operation to an end and the big interest that we have seen from all potential foreign partners shows we are on the right path," he said.

Cai is expected to pick either Air France-KLM or Lufthansa as a partner for Alitalia, which is now expected to be re-launched in early December.

The conclusion of this deal - after Alitalia's search for a buyer that included a failed auction and a failed takeover by Air France-KLM - is being seen as as success for Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi who had promised to save Alitalia.

Source : BBC
[tags : recession bankrupt collapse retrenchment financial news collapse stagnation economic slowdown financial collapse world recession]

Alitalia slashing 100 flights a day

Alitalia will scrap 100 flights a day until the end of November due to ongoing wildcat strikes by pilots and flight attendants, the airline's bankruptcy administrator said in an interview published Tuesday.

Some Alitalia workers have been causing havoc for over a week with unannounced protests against a plan to sell the carrier to a group of Italian investors.

The company said pilots and flight attendants have been applying job rules strictly or calling in sick, causing delays and forcing hundreds of cancellations.

Alitalia's government-appointed administrator, Augusto Fantozzi, was quoted as saying by La Repubblica daily that the protests were costing Alitalia "millions" of euros each day. The bankrupt carrier is already losing some 2 million euros ($2.5 million) a day.

Fantozzi said Alitalia will cut 100 of its 600 daily trips until the end of the month, when the deal for the airline's sale is expected to be closed.

The administrator stressed that passengers would be reimbursed or put on other flights, and urged travelers to check their trip's status on Alitalia's Web site.

An Alitalia spokesman declined to comment or confirm the figures.

Protesting unions maintain Alitalia is also to blame for the chaos, saying the company is purposely cutting flights to save money.

A group of investors led by Roberto Colaninno, the chairman of scooter-maker Piaggio, has offered to take over Alitalia's profitable assets in a deal worth 1 billion euros ($1.25BN). They plan to scale down on routes and personnel, combining the new Alitalia with Air One, Italy's No. 2 carrier.

The protests began when contract negotiations with some unions broke down. The investors have said they plan to bypass reluctant unions, offering pilots and other crew members individual contracts.

Source : NYTimes
[tags : recession bankrupt collapse retrenchment financial news collapse stagnation economic]