Stellantis agrees 350 job cuts in southern Italy with unions

MILAN (Reuters) -Carmaker Stellantis has signed a deal with trade unions for 350 voluntary exits from its Pomigliano and Pratola Serra plants in southern Italy, the Fiom union said on Wednesday.

A spokesman for Stellantis said the layoffs involved employees close to retirement age and were in line with overall plans presented in December to the Italian government to boost its production in the country.

Fiom, which did not itself sign the agreement, said in a statement that job reductions involved 300 workers at the Pomigliano assembly plant and 50 at the Pratola Serra engine facility, both in Campania, the region comprising Naples.

Stellantis last month said 114 young workers on temporary contracts at its Italian van making plant in Atessa in the central Abruzzo region would be hired on a permanent basis.

Voluntary layoffs are the main tool Stellantis has used to cut its workforce in Italy, now amounting to some 38,000 people, against around 55,000 in early 2021, when the group was formed through the merger of Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot maker PSA.

(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari, editing by Alvise Armellini and Keith Weir)