Don't pile it ALL on the unions guys, there's more to this predicament than their refusal to go along with the rescue deal. According to an ANPAC (the italian pilots union) and ECA press release
ANPAC - Associazione Nazionale Piloti Aviazione Commerciale their reason to reject the deal is that they can't accept a contract covering all employees in stead of separate collective labour agreements for pilots, cabin crew and groundstaff.
Yes, unions haven't been helpful, but management in AZ has been apalling for the last few decades, further aggravated by political meddling and conflicts of interest. A few examples:
-In the old days, before the hub in MPS came to be, in order to qualify for a job with AZ you had to live in a certain postcode area around Rome (not the cheapest real estate in Italy). Then management decided to create a second hub just 500 kilometers up the road to the north and wanted to relocate people. Understandably, the unions opposed this and argued that it was not reasonable to force people to move after taking up residence in/near Rome to qualify for their job. This is how the 'crew shuttle' between Rome and Milan was created, costing the company large wads of cash.
-KLM started a partnership with AZ years ago, but pulled out (best decision they ever made) because the promises that AZ management and the Italian government had made about developing the hub in Malpensa did not materialise.
-As I understand it, any elected official in Italy who holds his office for more than a year enjoys cheap travel privileges with AZ, costing more wads of cash in lost revenue. This is one of the reasons why politicians oppose a take-over by a foreign airline (because this is undoubtedly one of the things AF would have scrapped to boost revenue).
I am sure that there are many more shining examples of moneywasting in AZ. Like many state companies they are extremely overstaffed and, that ís mostly due to the unions, any attempt to adress this problem was shot down by endemic strike action.
The present state of affairs is a furball of epic proportion. The blame-pinning has started in a predictable way and nobody seems to want to swallow a bit of pride. Unfortunately the victims will be the people working at AZ, either by losing their job or accepting a big paycut and loss of earned privileges. It would be refreshing if Mr. Berlusconi accepted some of the blame (he won't), if the unions got their act together and realised that this is not the time to play with fire some more (they won't either), and if all parties involved saw the bigger picture in stead of focusing on only their own interests.