Air Malta pilots are ready to step up industrial action, including delaying flights or suspending the service altogether, unless their claims for improved conditions are met.
In the meantime, the pilots will continue to dress down for work but are not expected to take any further action until the next meeting with management, scheduled for July 18. They are not wearing caps and suit jackets when on duty in protest over delays in negotiating a new collective agreement. The old one expired more than six months ago.
At a union meeting yesterday, pilots voted, by secret ballot, on the way forward. Sources said 92 per cent of members present, equivalent to 82 per cent of Air Malta’s pilots, gave the Airline Pilots Association’s executive committee the clearance to issue harsher directives if the need arose.
According to Alpa president Dominic Azzopardi, what the pilots were requesting was “nothing out of the ordinary” and neither was it “out of reach” of the airline.
“We think we are being very fair. We are not asking for exorbitant increases and, even on the basis of what we’re asking for, Air Malta pilots will still remain the lowest-paid pilots in Europe. Still, the least we expect is for the airline to pay us the going rate for pilots,” he said when contacted.
“We are not asking Air Malta to give us what other airlines, such as Alitalia and Etihad, pay their pilots. What we are saying is that we are providing a service and we expect to be properly remunerated for such service. That is the bottom line,” he added.
Capt. Azzopardi refused to mention the figures listed by the association in its claims and neither would he reveal comparable salaries offered by other airlines. An exercise conducted by the Times of Malta showed that while Air Malta pilots received an average of €100,000, Alitalia pilots netted €150,000.
Capt. Azzopardi said that although pilots authorised Alpa to step up directives, that would remain the last resort. “We do not wish to issue further directives. We just want to reach an agreement but it’s not easy convincing management,” he said.
Asked whether the association believed pilots were being treated unfairly, Capt. Azzopardi replied in the affirmative, adding that this was “nothing new”.
“We have long been saying that the airline was being unfair. We cannot be held responsible for management’s mistakes. We have received a counter proposal from the airline but it was simply unacceptable. We have another meeting scheduled for July 18 and, until then, we will continue with the dress down directive and then decide after that meeting.”
When contacted, an Air Malta spokesman said that before next week’s meeting any comments would be “premature”.
Last April, the government signed a memorandum of understanding with Alitalia for the sale of a 49 per cent stake in Air Malta. Alitalia chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo said later it was a “zero risk” operation for his airline, adding it would not cost a euro.
matthew.xuereb@timesofmalta.com