Rome: The former flight attendants of Alitalia airlines organized a flash mob to display their objection towards job losses and pay cuts after the new ITA airlines took over, and stripped down their uniforms in protest.
To demonstrate their disapproval of the working conditions of their colleagues who were re-hired by the new ITA Airways launched in Italy, about 50 former female workers of the Alitalia airlines removed their uniforms in silence in front of Rome's town hall, Campidoglio.
After remaining barefoot wearing only a slip, the women silently began to gather their clothes and raised the slogan, "We are Alitalia!"
Alitalia is Italy's decades-old airline which flew its final flight on October 14 after it was grounded owing to financial losses and failed rescue attempts. It was replaced by ITA airlines which began its services on October 15.
Responding to the protest, the president of ITA Alfredo Altavilla said, "Discontinuity doesn't mean denying the past, but evolving to keep up with the times."
"ITA Airways is being born right-sized, in the optimal dimensions both in terms of the size of its fleet and its destinations. We don't carry with us the negative inheritance of being too big that conflict with the economic reality," he added.
While the old Alitalia airlines operated with 110 aircraft and a workforce of 10,000, ITA airlines have started its operations with 52 jets and 2,800 employees.
In the next three years, the Italian government is due to invest 1.35 billion euros in ITA airlines. However, the employees of ITA are being hired at lower pay scales as per the Union officials.
The government has been requested by the Union leaders to extend unemployment benefits for as long as five years.
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