Alitalia
Alitalia wildcat grounds 114 flights
A wildcat strike by Alitalia workers Thursday forced the Italian flagship airline to cancel 114 flights.
Part of the airline's ground personnel held a general assembly at Rome's Fiumicino airport for several hours early Thursday. The action by workers fearful of losing their jobs when Alitalia is relaunched as a private airline next week caused the cancellation of 63 departing flights and 51 Rome-bound flights.
Troubled airline Alitalia sold
Italian national airline Alitalia, after a long period of agony, will survive at the expense of its workers and taxpayers.
When Alitalia started going bankrupt because of its irreparable debts, the Italian government instead of selling it to the first aspirant buyer – that is Air France - decided to reject its extremely convenient offer thinking that they could have saved the national airline by some ingenious stratagem.
Alitalia workers wildcat
A wildcat strike by Alitalia employees on Tuesday forced the cancellation of at least 20 flights at Rome's Fiumicino airport and further disruptions at airports in Milan, Naples and Venice.
Alitalia said a total of 124 flights were canceled among all its operations Tuesday as a result of the wildcat strike a day earlier, as well as because of a work-to-the-rules job action, which pilots have been waging. The airline predicted some 50 flights would have to be scratched on Wednesday.
Alitalia workers clash with police over job cuts
Italian riot police and several hundred Alitalia Airline maintenance employees have clashed in Rome as workers protested job losses threatened by the Airline's pending sale to Air France-KLM.
No serious injuries were reported in the scuffles on Tuesday that took place as Alitalia negotiators met with unions to seek backing for the takeover. The deal, announced Sunday, requires the approval of parliament and all nine airline labor unions.
Transport strikes across Italy
Italy's biggest transport strike in 25 years forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights, idled trains, anchored ships, and stalled buses across the country on Friday.
Aero-news.net reported that Italian carrier Alitalia canceled 217 domestic and international flights before a four-hour walkout by pilots, flight crew and ground staff beginning at 11 am. Air One, Italy's number two carrier, only guaranteed nine flights there.
Italy: A week of strikes and wildcats at airports
A nationwide strike of air traffic controllers today follows six days of wildcat strike action by Alitalia flight attendants.
Iht.com reported that Italy's national carrier Alitalia alone cancelled 394 flights today because of the 10am to 6pm strike.
Alitalia flight attendant unions are trying to keep up the pressure on the struggling national carrier over contract negotiations. Other international carriers also canceled flights because of the walkout by air traffic controllers.
Unions end week of Alitalia wildcat strikes
Workers for airline Alitalia at Rome's main airport have agreed to call off a week of unofficial industrial action following a request from unions.
Berlusconi could send in military against Alitalia wildcat strikers
Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi hinted yesterday at sending in the military to break up wildcat strikes which have paralysed Alitalia, the Italian national airline.
"We may get to that point, but we will try to avoid it because we know tragedies could happen," he said.
Berlusconi played down those comments, saying the existence of Alitalia was a matter of national pride for Italy.
Berlusconi said Alitalia had to push ahead with a restructuring plan and face down wildcat strikers who have paralysed the airline over the past week.
Union leaders suspend Alitalia strikes
Following wildcat strikes over the weekend which downed flights, Alitalia SpA union leaders said they would "suspend'' a 24-hour strike planned for Jan 23 after the government offered to discuss complaints about longer shifts, decreasing job security and the sale of a unit.
"We've been called in for a meeting with the government on Wednesday to discuss the Alitalia situation, so we've suspended the 24-hour strike due to start tonight at midnight,'' said Alberto Cassandra, a spokesman for Filt Cgil, the transport branch of Italy's largest union federation, in an interview.
Wildcat walkouts over restructuring ground flights in Italy
Alitalia cancelled 44 flights today due to continued labour unrest, the second day in a row Italy's struggling national carrier has had to scrap flights because of wildcat walkouts.
Italy's main unions, meanwhile, met at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport to discuss whether to proceed with a threatened full-day strike starting Monday - the second in a week. Italian news agencies ANSA and Apcom said the walkout was cancelled pending the outcome of a meeting with the government scheduled for Wednesday.
