Alitalia is on the verge of rescue, as the state-controlled airline is being courted by an Italian investment consortium. However, the investors are threatening to pull their bid and funding guarantees unless Alitalia can guarantee union approval of the plan.

For days, the parties have been negotiating between airline employees, the head of CAI (the investment group involved in the bailout), and the airline itself. The head of CAI has informed the airline that, unless they can arrange for union approval of their plans, the investment group will pull their buyout offer. The Italian airline has been a major player in Europe for more than 60 years, and risks a forced liquidation if the deal falls through. Years of political infighting, labor disputes, and the massive increase in fuel costs have resulted in the airline’s severe financial difficulties.

The carrier holds 1.66 billion euros in debt, and is hemorrhaging more than 2 million euro per day. The state holds 49.9 percent of the Italian airline. The state has been attempting to sell their stake, but their bid to sell their shares failed, and Sergio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, persuaded the group of investors to make the investment and rescue the troubled carrier. However, Alitalia’s notoriously active unions have resisted the plan, with only 3 of the unions giving their approval. The other 6 of the company’s unions remain heavily resistant to the movement.

The largest of the unions, CGIL, has said in a statement that it does not believe that a deal can be reached, and the main pilots’ union has said that it opposes the changes, as well. Both groups oppose the job cuts that the cost-saving measures instituted by the investors would bring. Labor Minister Maurizio Sacconi said the alternative to a deal was Alitalia’s failure, and that the greenlight from three unions represented “an important consensus basis.” One negotiator has said that “approval by a significant number of unions would be enough” for CAI to go ahead.

Learn more at: www.alitalia.com