SAVE MONEY ON TRAVEL DEALS

FIOM, the engineering workers' arm of the left-wing union CGIL, called the eight-hour strike against Fiat after the automaker brokered a deal with moderate unions to boost productivity at its Mirafiori assembly plant, ANSA reported Friday.

The controversial agreement was made outside Italy's long- established system of nationally negotiated contracts, and features reductions in break times, increases in shifts, measures to cut absenteeism, and limits on the ability to strike.

Autoworkers at the Mirafiori plant approved the contract by a slim margin.

Factory-specific contracts like it and a previous one at a plant near Naples are needed to boost productivity, Fiat Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne said.

FIOM has called the recent plant-specific deals an attack on labor rights.

Fiat said 25 percent of its workers took part in FIOM's general strike.

 BREAKING STORIES

EU envoy: Political uproar threatens Haiti

Space Station supply mission readied

Loud traffic noise linked to stroke risk

Germany votes to extend Afghan presence

Smog may lead to Milan traffic shutdown

Italian autoworkers strike against Fiat

Christie's reports record sales in 2010

British unions discuss strategy

Team drills toward hidden Antarctic lake

French court upholds same-sex marriage ban

Medvedev: START could be in effect soon

Obama's Irish heritage celebrated

Russian icebreaker rescue near success

Cameron outlines vision for recovery

Environmental convictions to be reviewed

Britain unveils plan to lease public woods

Greenwich observatory sets admission fee

EU warns Britain on London air pollution

Critics: Shark fishing nations fail pledge

Date of humans out of Africa pushed back