ITA Airways unions in turmoil

by: Mario Masciullo – eTN Italy | copyright: eTurboNews | Tourism News – Tourism Industry News

Pilots and flight attendants unions of ITA Airways met with Managing Director Fabio Lazzerini and Chief of Staff Domenico Galasso from the airline’s top management to complain about the wage situation.

A meeting with Uiltrasporti union, the Italian union of transport workers, was branded as a “nothing” given the “lack of clarity on the possible timing” to reach a contract, which led the workers’ unions to start a cooling procedure against ITA Airways.

This tension comes at a crucial moment for ITA and the Ministry of the Economy which could sign within a few days, the memorandum of understanding sent by Lufthansa to enter into business withi ITA with a minority stake. A green light on this MOU would allow Lufthansa – subject to the approval of the EU Antitrust – to take over the fate of ITA at the end of February 2023, according to Il Corriere della Sera, an Italian daily.

The united acronyms of the workers’ unions – FILT CGIL (Italian Federation of Transport Workers), FIT CISL (Italian Transport Federation), Uiltrasporti, UGL (General Labour Union), ANPAC (National Professional Association of Civil Aviation), ANPAV (National Professional Association of Flight Attendants), and ANP (Italian Association for School Heads and Teachers) – declared in a post-meeting note:

“We consider that introducing the contractual implementations expected by ITA’s crew and ground personnel can no longer be postponed.”

After having supported the launch of the operations, they (the unions) added: “We believe that further procedural stages cannot be expected, which can last several months, before seeing the enormous efforts made to realign the salary levels, moreover, to the minimum salary conditions of market.” For this reason “it was decided to activate the procedures (cooling off and conciliation) to formally claim what was requested.”

Salary details

The airline workers unions FILT CGIL, FIT CISL, UILT, and UGLTA in urging an increase in wages, with the full application of the CCNL (labor contract) of air transport at the table with the company, produced details of wages.

A commander of ITA Airways with 15 years of seniority, 18 days of work in a month, and 70 flight hours gets a gross salary of 6,500 euros (93 euros per hour flown), against 11,520 for Ryanair (165 euros per hour of flight), 15,200 for Easyjet (217 euros per hour), 8,700 from Wizz Air (124 euros), 13,900 from Vueling (199 euros).

An ITA pilot earns 4,000 euros gross per month with 12 years of experience, 18 days of work in a month, and 70 flight hours (57 euros per hour of flight) against 5,870 euros for Ryanair (84 euros per hour), 8,650 for Easyjet ( 124 euros per hour flown), against 4,700 from Wizz Air (67 euros) and 6,490 from Vueling (90 euros).

In reading these numbers it should be remembered that per diems are not included and that the comparison is between the “emergency” payrolls of ITA Airways and the ordinary salaries of the other national airlines, which even in times of difficulty have asked for sacrifices by cutting employee payroll.

The unions stated: “We want to prevent discontent from producing fibrillation or even turning into unrest in this delicate phase in which the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Italy (MEF) is about to start negotiations with Luftansa for entry into the capital of ITA Airways.

The post ITA Airways unions in turmoil appeared first on eTurboNews | Tourism News – Tourism Industry News

| Continue reading: https://eturbonews.com/ita-airways-unions-in-turmoil/