No progress on Whirlpool, Patuanelli

(ANSA) - Rome, October 15 - No progress was made at a meeting at the premier's office Palazzo Chigi in Rome on Tuesday morning on the controversial sale of the Naples plant of American home-appliances giant Whirpool, Industry Minister Stefano Patuanelli said.
    Patuanelli said the meeting was "not positive" because the company did not open to the possibility of suspending the plant's sale.
    The company "continues to propose as the only solution the sale of the company's branch", he continued.
    If Whirpool will continue to have "an attitude of unilateral choices, the government will also take unilateral choices", concluded the minister.
    Whirlpool wants to sell the plant, which currently produces washing machines, to a company called Passive Refrigeration Solutions (PRS).
    Unions say the move casts a shadow over the future of the plant and the jobs of the 430 people who work there.