Five euros per hour to fly: rider salaries for Ita's flight attendants

The hires were almost a bingo: no criteria, no list of requirements and not even a ranking. Just a contract to be signed instantly, to be postponed in a few hours: take it or leave it, without wasting time analyzing articles and compensation figures. Some kind of gun to the temple. And so, faced with the specter of layoffs and subsequent dismissal, a small troop of pilots and flight attendants had to say yes to Ita without even thinking about it. Voluntary dismissal from Alitalia and new hiring, as if the operation that canceled the historic national airline had been wanted by the employees. The future is unclear, although the plan announced by the new public airline appears to be to grow in a few years. The reality for now is another: only 52 aircraft and a significantly reduced network of connections. Of course, Sardinia is not on Ita's list of arrivals and departures, but this is a different matter. And it is the effect of a regional ban that went very badly for the new Italian carrier.

For the 2,800 employees absorbed with a contract reduced by more than 30 percent, the pace of take-offs and landings has intensified significantly. It starts almost every day and after a year and a half of Covid layoffs, the life of the crews has totally changed. Especially from an economic point of view. Same uniform but reduced salary: "We are waiting for the first paycheck, but a frightening figure emerges from our accounts : for every hour of flight we receive a fee that varies between 5.30 and 7 euros". Flight attendants cannot put their face on it, because in the employment contract (not the national one, but the company one) there is always the usual clause on confidentiality. Someone, during the flight, allows himself to have a chat. But the condition is strict: "No names, even if mine can be read in the frieze I wear on the uniform."

The new life of the flight attendant, despite many years of experience in the clouds, increasingly resembles that of a rider. Hostesses and stewards paid almost like the bellboys who run around the cities with hot food. "Receiving an hourly wage of just over five euros is humiliating, also for the responsibility we have to assume after each take-off - says the hostess of the Rome-Milan - With the new contract, moreover, we have not even been granted seniority service and among us there are colleagues who also have twenty-five years of work behind them. All erased, from day to night. And as if that weren't enough, we suffered the humiliation of the "sanction" imposed by Alitalia for the lack of notice of dismissal. In reality they are the ones who dumped us, forcing us to pretend a voluntary dismissal ».

The salary of the flight attendants, to comb through the few contracts that circulate, is made up of two parts: the fixed one and the one linked to flight hours. Which excludes, the latter, the many hours spent at the airport waiting for the next plane and even the "reserve" days, those spent at home waiting for an emergency call, to replace colleagues who do not show up at the boarding at the last moment. Obligation to arrive at the airport in a maximum of 90 minutes, but no compensation if the day passes without a call. «The fixed part of the salary - adds the capocina - is made up of a constant figure, to which is added a super minimum that was introduced to cover the seniority canceled from one day to the next. And then there is the so-called "guaranteed flight allowance". Added to this is a kind of tip that varies between 5 and 7 euros for each hour of flight performed ". For those who spend the night away from home or those who are on duty for more than twelve hours, there is also a refund for meals: the crews call it “per diem” and it reaches 42 euros. «The necessary to pay for a lunch and a dinner many kilometers from home - specifies the second steward - In the end our salary will just exceed 1500 euros. We know that there are many people who earn much less than us or that they dream of work, but a compensation of this kind is not decent for those who set the alarm at 4 in the morning every day and go around Europe, arriving often on the other side of the world, leaving the children and the rest of the family at home ».

The commanders and the first officers are doing a little better but for them too the new employment contract with Ita contains a thrilling scissor cut. And in fact, someone did not accept the offer, especially considering the appeal that the Italian pilots boast: companies from all over the world are willing to compete for them and now for many new job opportunities are opening up. The comparison is quickly made: passing from Alitalia to Ita, a commander with 60 hours of flight per month goes from a gross salary of 12,534 euros to 6,217. The cut is 50% and the difference reaches 48% even if a comparison is made with colleagues of a low cost such as Easyjet, where a captain who spends 60 hours in the cockpit brings home about 12,000 euros gross. «Wages far worse than Ryanair but with working conditions similar to those of a national airline such as AirFrance or Lufthansa - says a pilot - This happens because the government has allowed Ita not to apply the national collective agreement. A terrible precedent ». But to appear less stingy than it appears, the new company has decided to pay a full month's salary to all employees, even if the first take-off dates back to just 15 days ago.