This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@xxxxxxxxx 8-Hour Strike by Alitalia Workers Cancels 350 Flights January 20, 2004 By FRANK BRUNI ROME, Jan. 19 - Workers at the airline Alitalia staged an eight-hour strike on Monday that forced the cancellation of more than 350 flights and affected thousands of domestic and international passengers, in the latest example of labor unrest and transportation chaos in Italy. Warned in advance that planes would not fly, many of those passengers did not bother to show up at Italian airports, and there were moments around midday when the corridors of Fiumicino airport, outside Rome, were eerily quiet. Signs saying "Closed," in both Italian and English, adorned check-in counters where there was nobody to check anybody in. The disruptive strike by workers at Italy's busiest airline was only the latest in a series of havoc-wreaking protests by transportation workers throughout the country during the last month and a half. On one or more occasions during that period, residents of and tourists in such cities as Rome, Florence and Venice have been frustrated by buses that did not come, subways that did not move or water shuttles that floated in place. Milan has been hardest hit, because transportation workers there have conducted wildcat strikes as often as twice a week. Deprived of taxis and buses, some Milanese residents and visitors to the city have mounted bicycles and pedaled their way through the northern Italian cold. The Milan strikes in particular have exasperated government officials, who have issued appeal after appeal to transportation workers. "Illegal strikes - true, literal wildcat strikes - are making Italians' daily lives difficult, and they project an image of a disordered, fragile country," Pier Ferdinando Casini, the head of the lower house of Parliament, told reporters on Saturday. "It's not tolerable," he added. They are also enlarging a heaping stack of difficulties that currently confront Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who had promised Italians that he would enhance productivity in the country by lessening unions' grip. Mr. Berlusconi's success along those lines has been limited, and the current spate of strikes is one illustration of that. While the holiday-season timing of transportation strikes in Italy is not atypical, other aspects of the protests are. The wildcat strikes in Milan and some other cities have been conducted by smaller unions that are sometimes ignoring the behests or accords of larger ones. That situation seems to be making it harder to find solutions. Striking transportation workers are in part demanding better pay increases and are citing a pronounced rise in the cost of living in Italy during the last few years. Price increases seem to be angering Italians more and more. In the case of Alitalia workers, the principal issue is the carrier's announced plans to cut costs by eliminating about 1,500 jobs in the next two years. Alitalia currently employs nearly 21,000 people. The strike on Monday was not the first to hamper the airline and its passengers in recent weeks, and it may not be the last. Workers at Alitalia have threatened another strike for Feb. 9 as negotiations between the company and its employees continue. Gianfranco Pasquino, an Italian political analyst, said most Italians would probably not blame Mr. Berlusconi and his center-right governing coalition for the rash of current strikes. "He can claim this is an inheritance of the center-left, of contracts that were too costly," said Mr. Pasquino, referring to governments that preceded Mr. Berlusconi's. Mr. Berlusconi took office more than two and a half years ago. "It's not really the government that's affected, it's the system of Italy," added Mr. Pasquino, who teaches political science at Johns Hopkins University's campus in Bologna. "If you're a foreigner, and you want to do business in Italy, you have to ask yourself: Is it a reliable country?" Defects Ground Japanese Planes TOKYO, Jan. 19 (AP) - Japan Air System grounded 120 domestic flights on Monday as it conducted emergency inspections, uncovering cracks in the engines of three planes, officials said. The inspections of the airline's 25 MD-81 and MD-87 aircraft followed two cases of engine trouble this month. The checks affected 120 of the 390 scheduled daily flights, stranding about 7,000 passengers, said Kenichi Ando, an airline spokesman. The planes were to remain out of service until checked, and inspections were to last through Wednesday, said Geoffrey Tudor, a spokesman for Japan Airlines, which is merging its operations with Japan Air System. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/20/international/europe/20ITAL.html?ex=1075562509&ei=1&en=44d5a807ba51edb6 --------------------------------- Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like! Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy now for 50% off Home Delivery! 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