Addio Alitalia?

Bankruptcy seems imminent after failure of negotiations with unions

There's always Ryanair...

Things are starting to look bad for Alitalia: the CAI consortium abandoned its rescue plan (of the most profitable parts of the current Alitalia) after its bluff was called by six of the nine unions negotiating the transfer to a new corporate structure. The CAI members had threatened to pull the plug on the complex take over plan if there was not an agreement by the numerous unions for significant job losses, and changes in wages and work practices. At any rate, as they have been doing since the weekend, the current emergency management continues to claim that the company’s fuel is about to run out.

"Better bankrupt than in the hands of bandits"

The Italian media is reporting that Alitalia employees reacted with glee to the failure of the plan – seemingly convinced that domestic political considerations would oblige the Berlusconi government to undertake a bailout under more lucrative conditions. It is worth noting that, during the previous electoral campaign, the unions rejected what seems to have been a much better takeover offer from Air France. The brinksmanship between the government and the unions seems not unlike a famous scene in the Clint Eastwood bad cop drama Dirty Harry: “I know what you’re thinking. ‘Are there two rescue plans or three?’ Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as the gas is about to run out, and would blow your company ( or ‘your future electoral majority’, depending whether you see the unions or the government as having the upper hand) right out of business, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?”