( dpa ) - One of the main unions representing workers at Alitalia on Monday walked out of talks with Air France-KLM on the French-Dutch company's proposed buyout of Italy's struggling flagship carrier.
The UIL union national-secretary described as "pointless" the talks in which Air France-KLM's CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta is attempting to win union backing for his company's Alitalia bid.
Veneziani whose union represents some 2,500 Alitalia workers out of a total of some 11,000, said talks with the French-Dutch carrier would "mean mean nothing" until a new government that can decide whether to go ahead with a deal is in place in Italy.
The outgoing centre-left government in Rome approves the Air France-KLM offer, but centre-right leader Silvio Berlusconi who leads opinion polls ahead of April 13-14's scheduled elections says he wants Alitalia to remain in Italian hands.
The nine unions representing Alitalia workers oppose Air France- KLM's intention to cut some 2,100 jobs if its attempt to take over the Italian state's controlling interest in Alitalia goes through.
Another major sticking point is the future of the Milan hub Malpensa which Air France-KLM plans to downsize in favour of Rome's Fiumicino airport as the centre of Alitalia's operations.