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Pirelli put in cafeterias to give all workers at least one big meal every day at a nominal fee of eight lire (about 1¢) per meal. Sample menu: minestrone, roast veal, vegetables, cheese, dessert, half a pint of wine. Workers can go to free vacation camps on the Italian Riviera; their children can go to the Italian Alps in summertime, while retired oldsters can spend their waning years in a free home at Iduno, near Lake Como. As individual productivity has gone up to double prewar records, Pirelli has rewarded his workers with repeated pay boosts, pushed their real wages up 96% in eight years, v. a 28% rise in Italy's cost of living. Result: for the first time Pirelli workers can afford motor scooters, TV sets, even small cars.
As a champion of free enterprise Alberto Pirelli expects to keep his company growing, and workers' living standards rising. Says he: "I hope we never stop." Suiting his action to his words, President Pirelli jauntily set out for North America this week to inspect his newest wire and cable subsidiary in Mexico, then will head north to open still another new 300-worker plant in St. Johns, Quebec.