The Italian state airline Alitalia, which is fighting for survival, said Thursday it had reached a wage-freeze agreement with unions representing ground personnel.
Union representatives, however, insisted on government guarantees for measures to help thousands of airline staff who would lose their jobs or be temporarily laid off.
"The company and the unions hope the state will be able to arrange 'social shock absorbers' for the jobs that will be eliminated," Alitalia added in a statement.
Unions stressed that any deal was linked to approval of the carrier's overall rescue plan, while the government, which owns 62.39 percent of Alitalia, says it will only intervene once a global accord has been concluded.
Unions tentatively agreed however to freeze wages for ground personnel until 2006 in exchange for a reduction in the number of job cuts to 2,500 from 3,500.
Alitalia expects to save 150 million euros (180 million dollars) as a result, part of 315 million euros in reduced labour costs it is trying to find through a restructuring plan that extends from 2005-2008.
On Wednesday, the airline reached an accord with pilots' unions calling for increased flying time, a cut in the nunmber of pilots assigned to certain routes and the elimination of 289 jobs.
That deal is expected to save the struggling airline about 52 million euros a year starting in 2006.
The carrier must now hammer out an agreement with flight attendants, whose representatives are seeking to reduce the number of planned job cuts from 1,050 at present.
It is a "more difficult and delicate" issue, according to CISL secretary general Savino Pezzotta, who nonetheless said Thursday: "We think we can conclude a deal, if there are no obstacles, either today or tomorrow. More likely today than tomorrow, in fact."
A Wednesday deadline set by Alitalia managment for finalising agreements with all three categories of personnel has been extended to Monday, when the board is to vote on a comprehensive rescue plan.
Unions now want the state to give guarantees that those who lose their jobs will be retrained or receive proper compensation.
Comments
Comments are closed.