Berlusconi asks Alitalia unions to accept proposals–also ready for merger with Lufthansa, AF-KLM
17 Sep 2008
Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi urged Alitalia's labour unions to accept restructuring plans proposed by Italian investment group CAI, saying there was no other alternative before the flag carrier. He even accepted the possibility of a merger with either Air France-KLM or Lufthansa in the future.
"There truly is no alternative" to the CAI plan, he said. "The alternative is [Alitalia's] failure."
It may be recalled that it was Berlusconi's opposition to a Air France-KLM initiative earlier in the year that forced the carrier, and the previous Italian government, to abort a rescue mission. His own efforts to have a rescue mission mounted by an Italian consortium is facing similar opposition from firmly entrenched unions at the financially haemorrhaging flag carrier.
The Italian investment group CAI, has said it is willing to spend €1 billion ($1.4 billion) to rescue and re-launch the troubled airline.
Speaking in Paris, following a meeting with French president Nicolas Sarkozy, Berlusconi said the Italian government is willing to extend "robust compensation" to 3,250 Alitalia employees who would be laid off under the CAI rescue proposal, including 80 per cent of the workers' base pay for eight years.
He warned, however, that if unions and CAI failed to reach agreement, 20,000 workers would be out of jobs. "The government would not be able to guarantee [compensation] for 20,000 people," he said. He also clarified for the sake of the unions that the government's offer of compensation would not apply if the carrier collapses.
Meanwhile, Alitalia administrator Augusto Fantozzi said yesterday that "there is little money" to keep the airline in operation. "It's about to run out," he said.
