INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Fiat workers call strike over Cristiano Ronaldo
(File)Fiat factory workers in Italy can think of a few things they'd rather see their owner spend $130 million on than Cristiano Ronaldo.A
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles union in the south of the country called for a strike to protest the purchase of star player by Juventus Football
Club, which like the carmaker is owned by the Agnelli family
That's money that could have been used for job-boosting investments like making better cars, the union said."It's unacceptable that, while
FCA and CNHI workers continue to make huge economic sacrifices, the company spends hundreds of millions of euros on the purchase of a
player," union USB Lavoro Privato said in a statement
It's calling for a strike the Melfi plant in southern Italy between 10 p.m
on July 17.Spanish soccer giant Real Madrid Football Club agreed on July 10 to transfer five-time Ballon d'Or winner Ronaldo to Juventus
after the player asked to leave
Juventus will pay 100 million euros ($117 million) for the move and another 12 million euros in additional fees to sign the player to a
four-year contract, the club said in a statement.The Agnelli family, which has owned Turin-based Juventus for more than 90 years, controls
Ferrari and Fiat Chrysler through its holding company, Exor, which owns 64 percent of Juventus.Fiat Chrysler, whose Jeep logo is plastered
across Juventus' black-and-white-striped jerseys, could get a huge advertising boost in the deal, according to analysts
If Ronaldo can lead Juventus to the UEFA Champions League final, the media exposure for that year alone would be worth about $58.3 million,
according to Eric Smallwood, president of Apex Marketing Group."We're all employees of the same owner, but in such a period of enormous
social difficulty this difference in treatment cannot and must not be accepted," the union said
"The company should invest in car models that guarantee the futures of thousands of people, rather than enriching only one."(This story has
not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
