Just one day away from the deadline to reach an agreement to bail out Alitalia, the road becomes clearer on the financial side, but remains uphill on the trade union side. Just on Thursday we will try to take a further step with the meeting between the government (Carlo Calenda, Graziano Delrio, Giuliano Poletti) and the trade unions (Camusso, Furlan and Barbagallo). It is a race against time considering that the go-ahead from the shareholders on the recapitalization of Alitalia is conditional on the agreement between the company and the unions which will be sought with the mediation of the government.
On the financial front, after the great refusal of the CDP, he takes the field Invitalia. The Treasury-controlled National Investment and Development Agency could provide the public guarantee requested by Intesa Sanpaolo e Unicredit both on any new credits and on the "contingent equity" which they would have to pay if the recovery plan presented does not (as they fear) continue in the planned direction.
In detail, the guarantee will concern 210 million (105 from Intesa and the same from Unicredit) out of the 400 calculated for any "contingent equity". In this way the two banks (already shareholders and creditors of the airline) should be convinced to convert their credits into shares of the company, thus contributing decisively to the approximately two billion recapitalization needed to save Alitaila and support the new business plan.
However, there is a risk that theEuropean Union oppose it, since the Brussels rules do not allow direct public interventions in the coffers of continental airlines.
As regards instead the union front, Alitalia has suspended the negotiation and the workers' representatives have asked for government intervention. The redundancies overall they drop to about 1.700 from the more than two thousand expected. the problem of social safety nets remains to be resolved after INPS has clarified that the Fund for the aviation sector cannot be used to support the income of those who voluntarily choose to leave their jobs.
As for the cost of the work, it is possible that wage cuts of flying personnel is reduced: the reductions envisaged for long and medium-haul pilots (22 and 28 per cent respectively) and those for hostesses and stewards (30 per cent) could go down to 10 or 15 per cent.
The banks, before putting their hands on their wallets, want the unions to sign the agreement. Otherwise Alitalia will face its second bankruptcy.
