Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2004 | 9:21 a.m.
MILAN, Italy -- Alitalia, the Italian government-run airline and a partner with Delta Air Lines and Air France in the SkyTeam alliance, told its unions on Monday that it planned to lay off about 5,000 of its 21,000 employees in a move to avoid filing for bankruptcy protection.
In addition to the dismissals, the airline's chief executive, Giancarlo Cimoli, said Alitalia would further pare its payroll by not renewing the contracts of another 1,000 seasonal workers. The job cuts are part of a general restructuring presented to union leaders on Monday that includes a plan to split Alitalia's flight operations and ground services into separate units.
While some union leaders said they would accept the Alitalia plan as the only chance to keep the airline from failing, others promised strikes.
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