Leonardo and unions stave off shutdown of Italy Grottaglie plant

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's Leonardo has reached an agreement with unions to avoid a planned temporary closure of its Grottaglie plant in southern Italy related to the slowdown in Boeing 787 production, the aerospace company said on Wednesday.

The deal was first announced by the leadership of Fim, Fiom and Uilm unions, after a meeting the previous night with the company's management, then confirmed by Leonardo itself.

"The site will continue to be operational. The partial reduction of production activities will only concern the Boeing 787 programme," the company said.

"Employees on this programme will work on a single shift with partial recourse to the ordinary redundancy fund," it added, saying the arrangement would run from July 29 until the end of the year.

Leonardo had said in June that a four-month closure would be needed. Around 1,300 people work at the site where central fuselage sections are produced for the 787.

The company also said that new work for its helicopter division was estimated to create up to 250 new direct and indirect jobs in Grottaglie between 2025 and 2028.

Leonardo said about two months ago that Boeing's recent production troubles could cost it some 50 million euros ($54 million) in 2024.

(Reporting by Marta Di Donfrancesco and Alessia Pé; Editing by Keith Weir)