Fiat workers march for job guarantees

About 15,000 Fiat workers marched in Turin, Italy, Saturday demanding job guarantees as the automaker mulls a merger with Germany’s Opel, witnesses said.

The autoworkers, who came from assembly lines from throughout southern Italy, began their march at Fiat’s Mirafiori factory and walked toward the company’s headquarters, the BBC reported.

Fiat is working to forge an alliance with the bankrupt U.S. automaker Chrysler, the company’s unions support as opening a new overseas market for their vehicles. But they believe a related move merge to Fiat with Opel, which is owned by General Motors, would result in thousands of layoffs, the British broadcaster said.

Fiat chief executive Sergio Marchionne, in a letter sent Friday to Italian Industry Minister Claudio Scajolay, said he would do everything he could to guarantee the greatest possible number of jobs in Italy. Marchionne added he was willing to meet with the government and the unions as soon as it is possible to envision a conclusion for the ongoing negotiations, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

Scajola had said earlier it was fundamental that Fiat’s factories in Italy remain central to the automaker even if it joins forces in the future with Chrysler and Opel.