By Gianni Montani
TURIN, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Thousands of Italian workers blocked traffic in Turin, marched into an art gallery in Venice and picketed in Sicily on Friday in protest against job cuts planned by loss-making industrial group Fiat.
Fiat plans to slash 8,100 jobs from next month in a critical bid to cut costs and nurture its historic car unit back to profit but the proposals have been met with scorn and fury from Italy's powerful unions, which are demanding a new rescue plan.
In Fiat's hometown of Turin, thousands of workers downed tools for four hours and marched through the arcade-lined centre of town demanding the government put pressure on Italy's biggest private employer to soften the blow at a meeting on Monday.
Organisers said at least 70,000 protesters flooded the streets, including about 75 percent of Fiat's blue collar workers. Fiat put the number at about 24 percent.
Meanwhile in the lagoon city of Venice, about 50 anti-globalisation protesters marched into Fiat's Palazzo Grassi gallery and asked the museum to donate some of its ticket sales to 1,800 workers on the poor island of Sicily who are due to lose their jobs.
Workers have been striking around Italy since Fiat unveiled its latest round of job cuts, blocking all sea traffic to the island of Sicily for a day as well as bringing airports in Palermo and Milan to a grinding halt.
"(These protests) show that tension is high," said Guglielmo Epifani, head of Italy's most powerful union Cgil which has led a wave of strikes against government proposals to alter the country's tight labour laws.
"If the government just rubber stamps the company's plans without playing any role it will have to take responsibility," news agency ANSA quoted Epifani as telling reporters in Bologna.
Fiat needs the government's green light to tap into funds to pay workers a fraction of their salaries during planned one-year temporary lay-offs.
This week Industry Minister Antonio Marzano said that not allowing Fiat to use the government and company-funded temporary layoff programme would mean the workers would just be fired, suggesting Fiat will get its necessary "crisis status" soon.
Government ministers, union chiefs and Fiat managers are due to meet in Rome on Monday and parliamentarians should start debating various motions on the carmaker's crisis from Tuesday.
Slumping car sales and high cashburn at Fiat Auto have dragged the group that was once Italy's industrial icon deep into the red and Fiat is betting that job cuts, new models and stricter control of sales can help reverse the situation.
Even if the restructuring works, analysts still expect Fiat to make use of an option to sell its remaining 80 percent stake in Fiat Auto to partner General Motors Corp. from 2004.