Italian Government, Unions Hold Talks

Italian government, unions hold talks

ROME, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) — Ministers of the Italian government and union leaders held talks on Wednesday in an attempt to end protests of workers of the Italian airline Alitalia.

Union leaders said strikes forced Alitalia to cancel up to 220 flights on Wednesday and up to 170 further flights could be scrapped on Thursday.

Workers have been protesting plans on restructuring the airline, including cutting jobs and splitting off the flight unit from the less profitable ground services business.

Italian union bosses agreed on Wednesday to scale back strikes after the government stepped into negotiations.

“We will explain to our workers that since the objective was to be heard … now it is possible to stop this extreme form of protests,” said Luigi Angeletti, leader of the UIL union, a main labor confederation.

The Italian government, who holds a 49.9 percent stake in loss- making Alitalia, called another meeting with unions and Alitalia’s management for Feb. 1.

The airline’s business has been paralyzed since last Thursday, when the strikes began, costing Alitalia about 20 million euros (26 million U.S. dollars) each day, according to industry estimates.