Morley Companies, Inc.
Labor Strike Italian Style
Morley was fulfilling an incentive trip on the Radisson Diamond, which departed from Rome and ended in Venice. Midway through the cruise, rumors surfaced of a one-day Italian labor strike targeting the Venice airport on the group's departure day. One day prior to the group's departure, Morley confirmed that the rumor was true.
After fully briefing the client, Morley gathered the participants together, explained the situation, collected all of their airline tickets (300+) and headed to the Venice airport. After learning that the strike would affect flights departing between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. the next day, the tickets were divided by airline and then changed to depart either that night or before 10 a.m. the next morning.
Since the strike involved hundreds of thousands of travelers throughout the country, all telephone communications with the airlines were impossible. As a result, the Morley team went directly to the airport and worked through the night at each airline ticket counter to make all possible flight changes. The next morning after returning to the ship, the Morley team prepared new itineraries and departure notices and distributed the revised information to each program participant.
In the end, all but 15 participants were able to get out of Italy and avoid the strike. Thirty participants departed immediately for Paris with Morley staff, where they would stay overnight and leave for the United States the next morning; the rest left either that evening or early the next morning. For the 15 that remained an extra day, accommodations were secured in Venice and representatives from the Morley team stayed with them as well to ensure a smooth departure.
