Employees at an Italian airline recently rejected a government-brokered package aimed at saving the airline from bankruptcy.
According to an article in the New Jersey Herald, Alitalia employees rejected the package late Monday afternoon. The deal reportedly included job and wage cuts.
Because employees voted no, now union leaders are calling on banks and other investors to come up with an alternative strategy to keep the airline from closing its doors.
Read more: Bankruptcy Attorney, New Jersey
“What will happen, I don’t know,” UILTrasporti union leader Claudio Tarlazzi told RAI News24 state TV.
“The country needs Alitalia, and 12,500 people don’t deserve to go home” jobless, Tarlazzi said, referring to the airline’s employees. He urged banks and shareholders to “show good sense” and called for renewed negotiations with unions for a revised industrial plan.
The board was expected to meet later this week to discuss the airline’s next steps, which could potentially be filing for bankruptcy.
The airline has been losing nearly $2.2 million a day.
“Some 12,500 Alitalia workers began voting last week on whether to accept the package offering less drastic wage cuts and fewer layoffs than first proposed,” the article reads. “Parent company Etihad Airways wants to cut costs in hopes of securing 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion) in investment to keep the airline afloat.”
The plan would have left about 980 permanent workers without a job and cut flight crews’ paychecks an average of 8 percent. Union leaders had reportedly urged workers to accept the proposal, despite that fact that employees were angry about the situation.
“The current crisis follows about 20 years of attempts to successfully re-launch the company, including privatization efforts and searches for industrial partners,” the article reads.
The airline has reportedly suffered due to competition from low-cost airlines. There are also high-speed trains that run between Rome and Milan, which are draining passengers from a major Alitalia route.
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