Unions reject Alitalia rescue plan
LONDON, England -- Italian trade unions have rejected a rescue plan put forward by Alitalia management, intended to turn the airline around with job cuts and a restructured corporate framework.
Alitalia's management unveiled the 5,000 job cuts to unions late on Monday as part of a plan to stop the ailing state-controlled airline going bust. It also involves splitting the firm into two entities -- a flying and non-flying arm.
Unions at Alitalia called a plan to cut almost a quarter of the workforce "unacceptable" and urged the Italian government to step in.
The Italian flag-carrier, which has lurched from crisis to crisis for years and came close to collapse earlier this year, currently employs about 20,700 full-time staff, in addition to a large contingent of temporary staff.
A joint statement by Alitalia's main unions said the 5,000 job cuts might be an underestimate as they did not include workers on short-term contracts who could also go. Unions had previously said they expected up to 7,000 job cuts.
"The extraordinary number of job losses ... makes the whole proposed framework unacceptable," the unions said.
"Unions reconfirm their willingness to look for all possible solutions including via productivity improvements," they said. More talks between unions and Alitalia management were expected to take place on Tuesday.
Strikes, including wildcat action not sanctioned by the main unions, brought the airline to a standstill in April.
At 1120 GMT Alitalia shares were down 1 percent at €0.22. The shares have lost more than 80 percent of their value since early 2000.
Both Alitalia's management and the center-right government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi have said Alitila will go into administration within weeks without a viable rescue plan.
The government, which has a 62 percent stake in Alitalia, has said it is ready to guarantee a €400 million bridge loan to keep the airline afloat beyond the end of this month, when the firm says it will run out of the cash needed to stay in business.
But that loan will materialize only if the airline has agreed a viable restructuring plan.
