NF500 / italian cuisine

Following on from previous difficulties that have dented the production and reputation of the Fiat 500, manufactured at Fiat’s plant in Tychy Poland, yet another spanner has been thrown in the works, which, ironically, was part of a solution to previous strike threats from workers over pay and conditions.

Parent company Fiat has been instigating upgrades and improvements at the Tychy plant, one element of which was designed to instil a sense of pride in the workers’ association with the Italian car manufacturer. At the entrance to the plant, pictures of historical Italian figures and events have been placed, and the menu at the canteens has been upgraded and improved.

This, however, is apparently the source of the current unrest. When the “Itialianization” of the plant lead to traditional favourites such as beetroot soup and steam softened beef tongues were replaced with minestrone soup and spicy meatballs with spaghetti, the workforce saw this as a step too far and have downed tools until a resolution to this catering catastrophe can be negotiated.

Fiat’s spokesman in Poland, Mr Ingannare, has been quoted as saying

Italian cuisine is the finest in the World, and while we accept and value the tradition of our Polish workforce, we will not back down on this matter, even if it regrettably leads to some customers Fiat 500s being delayed by a few weeks. Eventually we are sure the Polish workforce will learn to love our great Italian dishes now on offer, in which we’ve invested a great deal of time and money as part of our ongoing improvement programme at the plant.