The two remaining unions representing ground staff and cabin crew have signed up for the deal to rescue loss making airline Alitalia.
The breakthrough came after a day of intense talks in the Rome offices of Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.
The rescue deal, put forward by CAI, a 16-strong consortium of businessmen, is new expected to focus on finding a ”foreign partner” for the airline.
Air France KLM and Lufthansa are the two contenders.
The talks yesterday concentrated on persuading SDL and AVIA to agree to the ”1bn rescue deal which involves more than 3,000 job losses.
Antonio Divietri, the head AVIA, was quoted as saying: "We've signed the deal, but there's nothing to celebrate.
"One in three of us will be laid off. There are people who are losing their jobs and suffering."
The deal involves CAI buying the government”s 49.9% stake in the carrier and merging its profitable parts with rival Air One to form a new streamlined carrier.
The unprofitable parts will be liquidated by the government. Analysts estimate the cost to the government, including redundancy payments to laid off workers, could be ”2bn.
The agreement represents a victory for Mr Berlusconi who successfully campaigned in Italy”s May general election to keep Alitalia in Italian hands.
His view and union opposition scuppered a takeover bid by Air France KLM.
But the deal still has to pass the scrutiny of the EU authorities who oppose state aid to floundering airlines.
Lufthansa was today (September 30) emerging as the favourite foreign partner, mainly because of the backing of Mr Berlusconi.
But Italy”s industry minister Claudio Scajola said: ”It's up to CAI to decide what's the best offer for our country, but it must be a minority."
Visit www.alitalia.com.
Stanley Slaughter
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