Frustrated in Italy, Fiat gears up in Serbia

(15 Oct 2010) 1. Wide shot of the FIAT factory in Kragujevac, an industrial city about 100 kilometres (70 miles) south of Belgrade 2. Mid shot FIAT factory 3. Cars parked in front of the FIAT factory 4. Wide of main gate of the FIAT factory 5. Main gate at the FIAT factory 6. FIAT employees leaving the factory at the end of the day 7. Mid of the Flags of Italy, Serbia and FIAT 8. AP journalist, sitting to the left, talking to Zoran Mihajlovic, head of the Zastava auto union (Zastava was the factory's former name, now renamed Fiat Automobili Srbija or FAS) 9. SOUNDBITE: (Serbian) Zoran Mihajlovic, head of the Zastava auto union: "Normally, any job that would come here, for our workers, is welcome. That is for sure something that opens up a lot of job opportunities for our workers. But we are not the ones who would like to see workers in another country lose jobs over that. The story was that in Italy the workers will have jobs, and on the other hand that the FIAT workers in Serbia would gain new car models to produce." 10. Close of AP journalist, making notes 11. SOUNDBITE: (Serbian) Zoran Mihajlovic, head of the Zastava auto union: "The economic crisis affected FIAT and FIAT is kind of lost in this situation. I think that some illogical things are happening in Europe, for example, one model is being transferred from Poland to Italy in order to satisfy the workers in Melfi and in Naples, and then from Naples, that is the Mirafiori, from Torino, they try to transfer it to Serbia as sort of a punishment for the Italian workers for not being able to reach a deal with them." 12. Wide of Kragujevac City Hall 13. Wide of street in central Kragujevac, with many cars made in the Zastava factory driving by 14. People crossing a street in front of a Yugo car in central Kragujevac 15. Close of an old FIAT with Kragujevac (KG) license plates 16. FIAT cars parked on a street in Kragujevac 17. Yugo cars parked on a street in Kragujevac 18. AP journalist, sitting to the right, talking to Ceda Nikic, a Zastava/FAS union leader 19. SOUNDBITE: (Serbian) Ceda Nikic, a Zastava/FAS union leader: "The export to the US was something to be proud about, and on top of that we had good salaries, so we were twice as proud." 20. Pedestrian zone in central Kragujevac 21. People sitting on a bench in a park in Kragjuevac 22. SOUNDBITE: (Serbian) Misa Brkic, economic analyst: "This is a political elite that takes too much care about the interests of the workers and too little about the interests of businessmen." 23. Close of Misa Brkic's hands 24. SOUNDBITE: (Serbian) Misa Brkic, economic analyst: "Because of the way that Zastava did business before, maybe it would have been better that the state made a clean cut and closed it all down. And then the state should have allowed FIAT to make a greenfield investment with lots of benefits, and to start from scratch." 25. Close of Misa Brkic's hands 26. SOUNDBITE: (Serbian) Misa Brkic, Economic analyst: "It could easily happen that the similar problems that Marchionne has in Italy with the working class, also gets in Serbia, since I follow what is going on." 27. FIAT flags waving in front of a FIAT dealership in Kragujevac 28. Wide shot of the FIAT dealership in Kragujevac STORYLINE: Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne's ambitious project to build 6 (m) million cars a year by 2014 together with Chrysler may be running into resistance from unions in Italy reluctant to adapt to new work rules. But there are workers in this economically depressed southern Serbian town ready to sign on. The prospect is bittersweet for Serbian workers but they're not saying no. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/59364a7e55ca2a08ce39df631beb0b51