LONDON – Leading negotiators from Unite, the UK’s biggest union, have today (Monday) flown to Rome to take part in last-minute talks with Italian unions working to save troubled airline Alitalia. Unite is pressing for measures to ensure that 300 Alitalia and Alitalia Airports jobs at Heathrow airport are protected in plans being discussed today to maintain the airline.

Steve Turner, a Unite national secretary for civil aviation said, “Our members in the UK must not be forgotten or sacrificed in any plans to restructure Alitalia. There are 300 jobs in ground handling, check-in, ticketing, cargo, sales and customer services that depend on a positive outcome from today’s talks. That means 300 people and their families who are now very anxious and need their union to fight all the way to save their jobs, and that is exactly what we will be doing today.”

Heathrow is Alitalia’s largest base outside Italy. Unite is concerned that the focus of the proposals before Italian unions today is to restructure the airline, yet it remains unclear how this will impact on the Heathrow operation.

It is expected that the talks will be concluded later today.