ROME (AFP) - Government, trade union and Alitalia officials were locked in talks in Rome on the state's social measures to help staff set to lose their jobs in the Italian carrier's planned relaunch.
Welfare Minister Roberto Maroni, chairing the talks at the prime minister's offices in Rome, has a series of social payments to ease the cutting of 3,700 jobs.
The talks were expected to continue late Tuesday after a brief adjournment.
Unions have already rejected a proposed 326 million euro (402 million dollar) unemployment benefit package, and the government has raised its offer to between 450 and 500 million euros as part of a five-year package.
The state holds a 62.3 percent stake in the carrier.
Alitalia and the unions representing its personnel have reached agreements in recent week on a restructuring plan aimed at saving the troubled carrier from bankruptcy.
Alitalia is soon expected to have access to a bridging loan of 400 million euros (493.2 million dollars), issued by a bank and backed by the state, that should keep it aloft until its re-capitalization.