PRESS RELEASE
Indesit. Fim, Fiom, Uilm: these are the main points in the Group’s supplementary agreement

The national Secretariats of Fim, Fiom, Uilm and the Unitary Union Representative Bodies Coordinating Structure reached an agreement on the supplementary agreement for the Indesit Company group today in Ancona.

The agreement will now be submitted to the workers through a series of assemblies and a referendum that shall be held by mid- January 2007.

These are the main aspects of the understanding.

Investments During the 2006-2007 two-year period, the Indesit Company will make new investments in our Country amounting to a total 80 million euros. Such investments will be aimed in part at research and development. In particular, a new Innovation and Technologies Department will be created within the group and it will be based in Fabriano. Another part of the investments will be devoted to developing the productive activities of all 8 Group plants located in Italy.

Industrial relations Today’s understanding confirms and strengthens the Group’s existing industrial relations system, based on debate and collective bargaining. In particular, a detailed and structured link between bargaining at Group level and bargaining in the single plants has been defined.

Employment and types of contracts. The understanding confirms and strengthens a system that is oriented towards the use of fixed-term contracts and jobs offered for a fixed term in order to strengthen employment.

In practice, in the individual plants, a reference stock made up of active workers with fixed-term contracts or having jobs offered for a fixed term will be created. For its employment needs, the Indesit Company committed itself to giving priority to workers belonging to this stock, on the basis of seniority, by offering them open-ended contracts or by repeating the fixed-term forms of work. It must be made clear that the understanding defines the maximum duration for fixed-term positions. As of January 1st, this maximum duration shall be 36 months. This duration will be reduced to 30 months (that may be extended to 34) as of January 1st 2009.

Based on these terms, the Company has committed itself to employing a quota of open-ended contract workers estimated at 300 units before the expiry of this agreement, that is by December 31st 2009.

Working hours In particular, this agreement strengthens a system of working hours calculated on a more-than-weekly basis and negotiated in each single plant. In particular, in accordance with today’s agreement, when working seven flexible working days, each of which entailing six hours actually worked, the worker shall be entitled to an eight-hour rest for each of those days. Moreover, different systems of collective closures for holidays will be experimented, always through agreements between company Departments and the Unitary Union Representative Bodies on a local basis.

Wages. Above all, the agreement defines a180 euro gross lump sum payment for everyone to be made by the end of 2006. Secondly, the agreement defines a 30 euro gross wage element for 13 months, which will have an impact on all wage elements, as of January 1st 2008.

As for the performance-related premium, the agreement sanctions a 795 euro gross increase per year, once it is fully operational. Overall, once it is fully operational, the performance-related premium will go up to about 3,500 euros gross per year.

Social rights In accordance with the agreement reached today, the parties commit themselves to looking into introducing possible forms of supplementary health coverage.

6 thousand workers are employed in the 8 Italian plants of the Indesit Company group.

Fim, Fiom, Uilm Press Offices:

Rome, 13 December 2006