Thank you Warff.
What is going on here is a big mess and pilots managed to get out somehow...with dignity but both legs braked!
The governement is trying to cancel in Italy all minor professional unions and just have 4 big ones that should be representative for every type of worker: from factory workers to pilots! This big unions actually represents only 20% of Alitalia ground workers.
CAI wanted a pool of 9 people to discuss a single contract for ground workers, employee, flight attendants and pilots. Those 9 people are elected by all the 12500 new Alitalia workers and pilots are just 1550! That means that our contracts would be discussed by a employee, for example.
Unluckly this deal was immediately signed by 3 of the 4 big unions: infact on 3250 people that would go home, only 600 were from ground, and also their wages and contract was the same.
The 4th big union decided they could not sign as they didn't wan't to decide for the other 80 % of Alitalia workers, whose unions weren't even received by the governement and CAI.
Infact, that night, only the big unions could partecipate at the debate while pilots unions and flight attendants' were left in the street. Also they moved the place of meetings to avoid all pilots and flight attendants that were gathering for a sit-in.
When our representative was about to promote a stop of every flight op, CAI and governement decided to talk with us: but it was a take it or leave it.
And the deal was 1000 pilots home, 1600 flight attendants home, 600 ground workers home ( doesn't it sound strange for a company that makes money FLYING), a contract that seems slavery and 20 to 30 % cut on wages (our were not so high even before).
They said initially no.
After 20 days of lies about us on newspaper, television and internet, all manipulated by politicians, pilots were the ones who wanted Alitalia to fail only to mantain wages and privileges.
Then the 4th big union signed and we were left alone.
So, to make it short, we signed but they could only obtain that captains had a manager contract (just to have our representative unions) and that pilots contract would be, apart from money, the same of captains; and they obtained 150 pilots more with one month off for everyone.
It's really a mess, one of those mess that only Italy can give birth to, and God knows how we will be able to get out.
In the weeks to come we will be able to change something about our contract, but not a lot I guess. In the meantime 870 pilots are at home and this new company to me has less chances than the old one.
We will also be merged to Airone: none says it but they was closing down. It's just that they have the "right" friends and none would tell.
So also none of their pilots will go home and if I stay I'll have on my left a captain with 4 years of flight or so, while after 8 years of Airbus 320 I'll be a first officer forever.
Alitalia was a good company: the only big problem we had was that we paid every service not at market price becouse someone had to gain money: for example air france paid around 800 euro for a turnaround in fco, while alitalia paid 1200. We paid around 5000 euro for a turnaround in Pantelleria, while the othes paid 4000. And these are the ones we know for sure........
Sorry this was so long.