Wildcat strikes show Alitalia deal faces hurdles

Workers went out on strike after the investors, led by scooter maker Piaggio Chairman Roberto Colannino, refused a request to allow unions to decide which workers would continue in the new Alitalia, which will be formed from the merger of some Alitalia assets with Italy's second carrier, the much smaller Air One.

Alitalia currently has some 20,000 employees, while the new company will have 12,500--taking into account the 3,500 working for Air One.

Several hundred workers participated in the strike, which forced the cancellation of 124 flights Tuesday, including domestic and international flights, according to Alitalia, warning there would be more cancellations on Wednesday. The unions themselves dissociated themselves from the strike.

Alitalia said in a statement that service also was hampered by other workers who engaged in slowdowns, employing a tactic of following every rule to the letter.

"My feeling is that these wildcat strikes are semi-spontaneous and the results of a small minority, which seems to point to the fact that the various unions have increasingly diminished control over their members," said airline analyst Gregory Alegi, a lecturer at Rome's LUISS university.

It remains to be seen whether the sentiment is strong enough to spread to other workers, and whether the workers will abide by a government order Tuesday to return to work.

Alitalia's nine unions agreed back in September to a framework for the deal--but still pending are individual contract deals. The wildcat strikes--staged primarily by pilots--raised the prospect that the investors may seek to negotiate individual contracts with pilots, that is hire them one by one rather than as a block.

The deal, which expires on Nov. 30, also requires EU clearance, with a decision expected as early as Wednesday. Competitors have argued that the deal violates EU competition rules.