(ANSA) - Alitalia flight assistants were up in arms on Tuesday over reports that the company plans to use air hostesses and stewards from China and India on flights to the Far East.
Alitalia workers claim that young Chinese women are already being trained for the role of providing specific language and cultural skills for long haul flights to and from their country.
In a climate of cost-cutting at the troubled national airline, they fear that many of their own jobs could be at risk because the foreign assistants could be cheaper to hire. "These new arrivals could be employed with non-Italian contracts, with contracts agreed in India, where they could be based," said Fabrizio Tomacelli of the SULT transport workers' union.
SULT is the largest union representing airline personnel and has waged an acrimonious battle with Alitalia management throughout the airline's bid to cut costs and return to profitability. Tomacelli said the non-Italian assistants, officially referred to as Linguistic and Cultural Resources, would probably replace rather than complement existing hostesses.
"The arrival of Indian and Chinese air hostesses is a another slap in the face which will affect the already negative atmosphere that workers are feeling in Alitalia," Tomacelli said.
The atmosphere at Alitalia remains tense as management efforts to relaunch the loss-making airline move forward and two important dates approach. On Thursday executives will meet with unions to finalise details the company's new industrial plan. SULT and other unions fear they will be asked to accept fresh redundancies on top of those already agreed to.
Alitalia, which is aiming at saving up to 65 million euros through greater efficiency, issued a statement Monday denying this.
On November 7 the board of directors is expected to give the green light to a 1.2-billion-euro recapitalisation, involving a number of Italian and foreign banks coordinated by Deutsche Bank.
"At this critical time, when people are talking about redundancies and crises, this operation with foreign flight attendants seems a bit strange," SULT said. Last August Alitalia Chairman Giancarlo Cimoli said he no longer recognised SULT as a valid negotiation partner. Since then the union has not been involved in talks although it has continued to speak out on affairs at the airline.
