Alitalia, currently struggling on the brink of bankruptcy and losing about $1 million a day, made a breakthrough in its emergency talks today. The four largest of the nine unions associated with the airline, CGIL, CISL, UGL, and UIL, tentatively agreed to the proposed business plan. The proposed plan involves cutting 3,000 jobs but provides help in finding new employment to those laid-off, and in fact retains 1,000 more employees than had originally been intended. However, the agreement is far from final, and many pilot and cabin crew unions are unhappy, saying that they were left out of the negotiating process. The company plans to move immediately into talks for a new labor contract.
See "Alitalia unions split on new accord", Caroline Brothers, International Herald Tribune, September 14, 2008