A rescue plan for Italy's troubled airline Alitalia involves firing at least 4,500 of its 20,000 workers, with stewards and ground personnel taking the largest blow, union sources said on Tuesday.
The so-called Phoenix plan for the state-controlled airline, which filed for bankruptcy procedure on Friday, calls for the sale of the profitable parts of Alitalia to a consortium of 16 Italian investors.
As unions met to discuss the plan ahead of crucial talks with the government on Thursday, the labour ministry issued a statement urging them to focus on the number of jobs which will be saved by keeping the company afloat.
Former finance minister Augusto Fantozzi, named company administrator last Friday, warned on Monday that Alitalia's liquidity could dwindle to as little as 30 million euros by the end of September, forcing him to liquidate the airline.
Union sources said as many as 1,500 stewards and 2,500 ground personnel would lose their jobs under the plan which also envisages laying off 500 pilots.
Uil leader Luigi Angeletti, who heads Italy's second biggest trade union, said negotiations would be ''arduous'' but that requests would dwell on reducing the number of staff to be made redundant.
Workers who will lose their jobs will have to given another, Angeletti said.
Infrastructure Minister Altero Matteoli urged the unions to do their best to wrap up negotiations within a 10-day limit but he also assured them that the government was ready to ''make adjustments'' to take ''some of their demands into consideration''.
The government has also promised to help redundant workers find new jobs but the unions also want to be consulted on the plan's merits.
European Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani on Tuesday backed the rescue operation, telling ANSA that it ''favoured the market and the principle of competition''.
He also welcomed as a ''positive signal'' that the government had presented the outline of the rescue plan to the Commission even before discussion in the cabinet.
According to Tajani, the ''transparency'' shown by the government is ''another positive element of the plan''.
Piaggio chief Roberto Colaninno has been named chairman of the consortium of investors who have pledged to put a total of one billion euros into the ailing airline.
Other investors, including foreign banks, are expected to join the salvage operation over the next few days.
Under the plan, Alitalia is set to be merged with smaller private rival Air One, creating a virtual monopoly of Rome-Milan flights.
The government last week changed Italy's bankruptcy laws to allow a quick split of assets and also said anti-trust oversight would be waived.
Colaninno is expected in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss the operation with Union experts, EU sources said.
