ROME- Workers from stricken airliner Alitalia blocked a main road in central Rome on Wednesday as their union representatives met the industry minister to discuss the future of the cash-strapped carrier.

Police in riot gear formed a line across the Via Veneto, where many of Rome's top hotels are located, to prevent the protesters from heading further into the city.

"Alitalia=Italy" read one banner.

Unions urged the government on Tuesday to abandon negotiations with Brussels over a proposed business overhaul for the airline, saying the European Commission was favouring foreign carriers over the group. 

Rome has been in negotiation with the European Union's executive arm for months over the plan to restructure the firm through the launch of a new, state-owned company called ITA.

ITA, which will receive 3 billion euros ($3.59 billion) from the state, was supposed to buy assets of Alitalia and hire some of its 11,000 workers to reduce job cuts at the old carrier to the minimum.

However divergences with Brussels over the conditions under which Rome could inject money into ITA have delayed the asset sale and left Altalia's coffers almost empty.

Last month Alitalia paid only 50% of salaries and trade unions said the situation would become unbearable by the end of April should ITA's launch be still blocked, or approved with too many constraints.

During Wednesday's meeting, Industry Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti reassured trade unions that Alitalia would pay April salaries in any case, the head of Filt Cgil union Fabrizio Cuscito said.

Giorgetti said in a statement that the government was exploring alternative plans for Alitalia, but did not mention any other option. 

The EU has asked for ITA to drop the Alitalia brand, give up as many as half of its slots at Milan city airport, and start without the handling and maintenance divisions of the old carrier, sources had said.

Trade unions rejected these measures saying they would entail a large reduction in both aircraft and staff numbers for the new, state-owned airline.

($1 = 0.8365 euros)

(Reporting by Crispian Balmer in Rome and Francesca Landini in Milan; editing by Barbara Lewis, Kirsten Donovan) ((crispian.balmer@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: crispian.balmer.reuters.com@reuters.net))