ETF represents 386 000 workers in civil aviation, and today they stand in solidarity with our Italian affiliates FILT-CGIL, FIT-CISL, UILTRASPORTI, who have called a 24-hour strike covering the entire country.
The Italian Government needs to listen to the demands of our colleagues now!
The aviation sector is growing but many companies, specifically Alitalia, are struggling to get out of crisis. Individual staff should not pay the price when their employer struggles, so the only way to buffer the harsh impact of dismissals and redundancies is a strong solidarity fund.
Such a fund exists in Italy, but the government has now decided to lower payments and shorten the duration of payments. This does not allow for the reskilling and reemployment of the workers concerned. That is why Alitalia pilots, flight attendants, maintenance technicians, ground personnel and all Italian air transport workers will stop their work in order to safeguard their jobs, their protections and fair working conditions.
The Italian government has committed to use laws to fight against social dumping, so they must now deliver on this promise. The aviation sector may be changing, but we cannot accept that companies exist in a permanent state of crisis with disastrous effects on jobs and working conditions.
[Featured Image of Alitalia Plane: Doug Bull, under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0]
