50 air hostesses stripped off their uniforms in protest in This country – Here’s why

A flash mob of airline Alitalia’s flight attendants stripped down from their uniforms into their underclothing in protest against job losses and salary cuts due to the formation of the new ITA airline in the country.

Around 50 air hostesses gathered in front of capital Rome’s town hall, known as Campidoglio. They then removed their uniforms slowly and silently to protest against the working conditions that their peers, who were re-hired by the new ITA Airways, experience at the airline.

The protesting flight attendants stood barefoot, and remained in silence for some minutes while wearing only their slips. They then shouted “We are Alitalia!”, while picking up their stripped off clothes and shoes.

On October 14, Italy’s decades-old national carrier made its last flight with the ITA airways taking over from the next day.

Alitalia was grounded after multiple failed attempts to rescue the airline amid mounting financial losses.

In a statement for the ITA Airways, airline president 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.”

While Alitalia had 110 airplanes and a 10,000-strong workforce, the new airlines is significantly less in scale with 52 aircrafts and 2,800 workers.

ITA Airways will attract an investment to the tune of 1.35 billion euros over three years from the Italian government.

However, the re-hirings at Alitalia have been at significantly lower pays as per the unions in the country. The Union officials have requested the Italian government to extend unemployment benefits from the layoffs for at least a period of 5 years.