Alitalia referendum April 20-24 (4)

(ANSA) - Rome, April 18 - Alitalia workers will vote from April 20 to 24 on a revised business plan which has lowered the number of jobs and pay cuts, union sources said. There will be seven referendum voting sites across Italy, and there will be no quorum.
    The UILTrasporti union said it was "granting freedom of conscience" on the vote.
    UILT chief Claudio tarlazzi said "it's a very complicated situation". The referendum question will be a straight yes or no, he said.
    Alitalia management and unions reached a preliminary accord overnight Friday agreeing a series of measures including the reduction of full-time lay-offs from 1,338 to 980 and the reduction of wage cuts to 8%. The deal will be signed, or not, after the referendum. Alitalia president-designate Luigi Gubitosi said "A big step forward has been taken. "We did not obtain everything that we wanted, but also from our point of view we did everything possible and above all we respected the deadline". Gubitosi was speaking after a board meeting of the former flag-carrier, which had initially lined up 2,000 lay-offs in order to try to turn around what was a chronically loss-making company.
    CEO Cramer Ball said "we are satisfied, also because the April 13 deadline was respected," set by shareholders to get a deal with unions to which they had subjected funding for the business plan.
    Transport Minister Graziano Delrio said "We are aware that we'll need other people who have faith in Alitalia's future who will put in further resources, but in the meantime we needed to save the carrier and we've managed to do that thanks to efforts by all".
    He said that, even with the pre-accord reached overnight, there remained " concern because the firm is objectively in a situation of very great difficulty".
    If the pre-accord fails it will cost the Italian State "more than a billion euros," Industry Minister Carlo Calenda said Friday.
    If, on the other hand, the accord is approved by workers in a referendum, "the condition for the banks to put in the resources, the Italian State via Invitalia will be able to give a guarantee if things were to go badly in 2018%", the minister said.
    If the preliminary accord is not approved, sources said, it could well pave the way for the airline to be put under a special commissioner.
    Alitalia unions have staged a series of strikes against the management's original business plan featuring over 2,000 job losses among ground staff.
    The plan also entails the hiring of up to 500 flight personnel - cabin crew and pilots - from 2019.
    It also will see the former flag carrier buy eight new aircraft between 2017 and 2021, on top of one that went into use last month, for around 10 new long-haul routes.
    The aim is to boost revenues and reduce costs in order to achieve profitability by 2019.
    The airline currently employs 12,500 people around the world.