Alitalia in talks with unions

Rome - No change to Alitalia’s leadership. The company denied rumours of the impending departure of its CEO, Cramer Ball, and its vice president James Hogan, and focused on the issues to be resolved over the next two “crucial” months for the airline’s survival. Some acrimony on the part of unions surfaced today on the issue of payroll reduction: the company has asked for a temporary freeze of pay increases tied to seniority, but the parties do not intend to negotiate without first seeing the details of the new business plan and the extent of redundancies. The company announced that it will present the details in two weeks time. A standoff has thus ensued.

At today’s meeting between company management and unions, officially convened to discuss the business plan, the company asked for a temporary freeze (for two months, January and February) of pay increases (i.e. based on seniority) to begin in January. The measure would affect only some of the flight crew (out of the firm’s 5000 pilots and flight attendants, those with more than 24 years of service would not accrue more raises) and that could result in a savings of €three-four million a year. But unions categorically rejected the proposal, wanting to get an overall picture first, and the meeting was adjourned to tomorrow afternoon.

The point is that unions, to whom the measure was presented as “an act of responsibility”, reminded that they have never failed to meet their responsibilities, and demanded the complete picture be laid out before any negotiations takes place, including details of the business plan and the number of layoffs (a figure of 1,500 has been floated), but the company announced today that they will not present the business plan until 10 January. “The company’s proposal as it stands cannot be accepted, especially since the union still does not know either the new business plan or the scope of redundancies, and to negotiate a deal one needs to have everything in the open,” warned Cortorillo of Filt Cgil trade union. “We’re not ready for any negotiation, other than contract renewals,” added Tarlazzi of Uiltrasporti. “First we need some additional elements: we need a complete picture to make an assessment,” emphasized Fiorentino of Fit Cisl. Meanwhile, Alitalia is trying to dispel rumours of a possible change of leadership that have been circulating for days: according to press leaks, shareholders would have already instructed headhunters to find a new CEO. “The news is totally unfounded,” company sources pointed out, noting that the board of directors and the shareholders’ meeting have recently approved and adopted the second phase of the business plan put forth by CEO Cramer Ball, implicitly putting “absolute confidence” in his judgement.