Wednesday,
July 25, 2007
Work is Hell at Alitalia
-The Airline Italians Love to Hate
The
ANNOTICO Report
Alitalia was once a company many aspired to work for.
Sharp-suited pilots laden with gold braid strode purposefully across airport
concourses the world over, confident their Alitalia badges marked them out as the "creme de la creme".
Nowadays,
Alitalia, losing 1 million Euros a day, and offering
itself for sale, has been rebuffed by several suitors, and faces a bleak future.
Part
of Alitalia's problem is being formerly
government owned, with those attendant bureaucratic wasteful attitudes. Further
the Unions are standing staunch against any job cuts, which are inevitable,
while the
Reuters
By
Irene Chiappisi
Tuesday
July 24, 2007
On top of the government talking tough about letting the
money-losing state carrier go bust, Alitalia
employees complain they are overworked, the butt of passenger ire and
frustrated in a company that is bogged down in red tape run more like a government
agency than a commercial enterprise.
"Working these days has been a real hell," said one
stewardess in Alitalia's green-jacketed uniform as
she rushed through Linate,
The centre-left government faces dwindling options for Alitalia, which is losing more than a million euros a day
and riven by strikes among its 20,000-strong
workforce.
Without a buyer it may face liquidation, since the EU has
banned the Italian government from injecting any more cash into the struggling
airline.
Poor staff morale and the derision of some Italians -- who
joke Alitalia is an acronym for "Always Last In
Takeoff Always Last In Arrival" -- are a far cry from the glory days.
Alitalia, created after World War Two, was once a company
many aspired to work for.
Sharp-suited pilots laden with gold braid strode purposefully
across airport concourses the world over, confident
their Alitalia badges marked them out as the "creme de la creme".
No matter how smart the uniforms, cabin crew now see little
glamour in long hours and telling passengers to "buckle up".
"We work too much, over 11 hours per day, some of which
are on the ground. But we get paid only for the flight hours," said the
stewardess on her way through Linate.
Other staff say crews that oversee
boarding often race from one gate to another at a pace that threatens safety.
Local media have been quick to ridicule the airline's
extravagance. Alitalia acts a taxi service for some
employees who work at its
EASY TARGET
But frontline staff feel they are an
easy target.
"The press compares our salaries with what people earn
working for low-cost airlines, but they don't consider the services we, along
with other flag carriers, provide," one stewardess said.
Many Italians lay much of the blame for the airline's failure
to find a suitor on its staff. The National Consumers Union has said Alitalia workers often strike for no reason and the company
"only eats taxpayers' money".
Italian Infrastructure Minister Antonio di Pietro has been
blunter.
"When something is diseased, you need to amputate
it," he said after the auction fell through, adding the flag carrier
should be sold off for one token euro.
Alitalia staff already complain
the airline has been turning to short-term contracts to cut costs. The result
is widespread job insecurity.
Diego Onza, a 34-year-old flight
attendant, said he got his first permanent job last month after 16 temporary
contracts in eight years.
But one way or another, change is inevitable.
Analysts believe Alitalia's labor
woes -- and the government's perceived reluctance to allow a buyer free rein to
slash jobs -- have been integral to the absence from the auction of major
players like Air France and Lufthansa.
A spokeswoman for Alitalia declined
to comment, but one flight attendant, who did not want to be named, had a clear
view.
"They cannot cut jobs unless they decide to leave the
airplanes on the ground," she said.
The problem for her and other Alitalia
staff is the government may decide to do just that.
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