Some 200 of the 1,300 workers of Fiat in Termini Imerese, as announced yesterday, occupied the town hall and the office of the mayor Salvatore Burrafato. The workers of the Sicilian factory are in the wages guarantee fund and are afraid that the company could dismiss the site in which the Lancia Ypsilon is produced. “Our action is symbolic – said Roberto Mastrosimone of Fiom – to attract attention. We are here because we want to meet the vice-mayor, i.e. an undersecretary of the Government, Gianfranco Micciché”.

The workers who are at the town hall “elected” their own mayor amongst the 200 workers who are occupying the office of mayor Salvatore Burrafato. The worker wore the Italian flag. “If the institutions won’t take into consideration our problems – said the occupiers – we will take action in our own hand”. The workers insist in speaking to the vice-mayor Micciché and also with Minister Claudio Scajola, before Fiat presents the new industrial plan. If this doesn’t happen, “we’ll stay here to the bitter end”, they said.

Translated by Chiara Nunnari from John Milton Institute