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Union leader challenges Air France

Air France-KLM chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta speaks to reporters during a press conference in Rome on Wednesday about his company's bid to take over ailing Italian carrier Alitalia. PHOTO: AFP

One of Italy's top union leaders on Saturday challenged Air France-KLM's chairman to offer a better deal for workers at ailing Alitalia or risk negotiations failing.

Air France-KLM officials, Alitalia officials and union leaders are scheduled to meet in Rome tomorrow to discuss the contested bid for Italy's money-losing flagship airline.

Unions are worried about job cuts if Alitalia is bought.

If Air France-KLM chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta doesn't make a better offer to unions "that means he doesn't want to make an agreement. If the negotiations fail, it will be Air France's fault," the Italian news agency ANSA quoted UIL labor confederation leader Luigi Angeletti as saying.

The bid also faces opposition from former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who hopes to retake office next month.

The media mogul has been pushing for Italian industrialists to put together their own offer over the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, Alitalia is losing some US$1.6 million daily and the company wants a decision on the Air France-KLM offer by the end of this month.

Berlusconi has refused to name the businessmen he claims are preparing an offer, prompting his rival in the election, center-left leader Walter Veltroni, to suggest that the billionaire business magnate is merely making campaign propaganda.

The Italian government holds a 49.9 percent stake in Alitalia, whose fortunes have been battered over the last few years by soaring fuel costs, frequent strikes and stiff competition from low-cost airlines.

Italian media have quoted Air France official Christian Boireau as saying that Air France-KLM's offer must be decided now, and not in a month or two, an apparent allusion to Berlusconi's efforts to thwart the deal.

An important Berlusconi campaign ally, the Northern League, with a northern power base, is angered by Air France-KLM's proposal's to make Rome, and not the northern business capital, Milan, the heart of Alitalia's operations.

Air France-KLM has that said it will need the approval of the next government. Opinion polls give the lead in the April 13 to April 14 parliamentary elections to Berlusconi.
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