Fiat confirms it's planning to cut staff by 10% in Poland

Fiat Auto Poland, as reported earlier, will lay off 750 employees from several of its domestic units, thus letting go in total some10% of the company's local staff. The recent negative downturn on the domestic auto market leaves no other choice, says Fiat Auto's chief Enrico Pavoni. "It's a rare thing in the world that a market shrinks by 25 percent year-on-year. The slump will likely deepen further this year," he said. Sales of domestically-made cars fell last year by 39%. Though Fiat sells most cars in Poland, with a market share of 27%, its sales fell to 129,262 units last year, about 28% less than in 1999. Fiat workers likely to be effected by the cuts demonstrated against the management's decision late last week. (Reuters; Prawo i Gospodarka, Feb. 10-11, p.3)