Rome, Jul 6 (FN Agency) Italy’s airline industry workers are holding a general strike on Tuesday, which has forced the Italian national carrier Alitalia to cancel a total of 143 flights. The trade unions said in a statement that the purpose of the strike is to counter layoffs in the air transport sector, as well as to highlight the need to organize regular consultations at the level of ministers and establish a coordination center for the protection of workers’ rights. The unions are demanding “a reform to reorganize the airport system, apply labor rules that provide the same regulations, and pay conditions for the same employment, and refinance the Air Transport Emergency Fund.”
“We have not yet received a response from the government on these issues after the first strike on June 18,” the statement said. The largest unions of the industry are demanding that the authorities take concrete measures to support employees of troubled airlines and airports, and those which have already closed amid the COVID-19 shocks. The strike is supposed to last all day, but not all flights will be affected. According to the information on the flight board of the Rome Fiumicino airport, Alitalia accounted for most of the canceled flights. The airline’s official website warns of the cancellation of 143 flights, a small part of which should have departed the day before. Other major international airlines such as Ryanair, Vueling, and Lufthansa are scheduled to fly as normal. The Italian Civil Aviation Authority (Enac) noted that a number of flights will be guaranteed to take place. The existing norms prescribe that strikes not affect the flights connecting major cities of northern and southern Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia, as well as several small islands.