One step away from the finish line, the agreement on wage increases between Ita and the unions fades. And the former Alitalia runs towards the first strike which will fall on February 28: a four-hour work stoppage, from 10 to 14. Enough to try to reach an agreement in extremis, but this time the problems are all internal to the company which for this reason will convene an urgent board of directors at the beginning of next week. On the other hand, when the CEO of the airline, Fabio Lazzerini, shook hands with the unions on Thursday evening, the details were defined: a 38% increase on the minimum payroll was expected for the pilots, while for the assistants the retouching it had to reach 23%. An increase in the per diem on international flights was also envisaged, while for ground staff, the defined increase was in the order of 15%.
Yet after several postponements of the meeting convened at the Ministry of Labour, yesterday the agreement reached was not formalized. To the point that the national secretary of Filt CGIL, Fabrizio Cuscito accuses: «The agreement already concluded and negotiated was blown up by the company. We are ready to declare the first strike in Italy. What happened today – adds Cuscito – is unprecedented and is unacceptable. It makes us realize that someone not only does not have the workers’ interests at heart, but also lacks respect for them and, on the contrary, has an interest in risking the Lufthansa entry operation and the very survival of the company, putting thousands of jobs at risk.
Also because Lufthansa has given its approval to the agreement with the unions recognizing that wages in Italy are far below the average for the European sector. A difference that is justified by the fact that the former Alitalia is in fact a start-up that benefits from more favorable contractual conditions. Reason why the Germans who are in talks with the economy ministry to take over 40% of the capital of Ita were in favor of an agreement with the unions. A position also known to the unions who, through Cuscito’s voice, are asking for “Government intervention to put an end to this ridiculous little theatre”.
The directors Ugo Arrigo and the former manager of EasyJet Frances Ouseley would have blocked the negotiation, who would have asked to be able to formalize their dissent to the increase in the cost of labor in Ita Airways in the board of directors. A step that could only be completed with the convening of an extraordinary board of directors for which, however, there was no technical time. A certain optimism transpires from the parties involved, also because for the green light to renew the contract, which also integrates the company welfare with around 450 euros, the unanimity of the board of directors is not needed, but the majority is enough and alongside CEO Lazzerini and the president Antonino Turicchi there is the councilor Gabriella Alemanno.
The rift with the unions, however, crosses the negotiation between the Treasury and Lufthansa for the sale of a minority stake in Ita. In the memorandum signed between the parties, the stake in the newco for sale is between 20 and 40% and the German group is about to take 40% through a reserved capital increase for an outlay of between 250 and 300 million of Euro.
The Minister of Economy and Finance, Giancarlo Giorgetti, has indicated that the margin of time necessary to arrive at the preliminary sale is “two months”. Lufthansa’s operational entry into Italy is therefore expected for the summer. Central to Lufthansa’s strategy is Fiumicino airport, destined to become the hub for Latin America and Africa as it is the southernmost of the hubs in Lufthansa’s network. —