Updated 2.10pm, adds Air Malta statement
The Union of Cabin Crew has called off negotiations with Air Malta.
The union said in a statement it called off the negotiations following the company’s “u-turn and insistence on re-employing 145 fixed-term casual employees as cabin crew”.
Both cabin crew and pilots are in dispute with Air Malta after it gave notice last month of plans to sack most unless they agreed to a monthly pay of €1,200 until normal operations are resumed.
Last week, both secured a one-week extension to try find a solution. The extensions were granted after the airline revised the number of pilots and cabin crew it wanted to retain.
According to Air Malta’s post-COVID 19 plan, it will now require 62 pilots, up from the original 26 under its previous projections, and 125 cabin crew, up from the 49 it had initially planned to keep.
In its statement, the Union of Cabin Crew said this last-minute u-turn was perceived a political manoeuvre or gimmick intended to out-vote the more senior and long-serving cabin crew in the company and force through its demand for permanent deduction in wages and permanent changes to the current collective agreement, including proposals which suppressed employee rights.
“The UCC believes that Air Malta’s insistence to re-engage fixed-term employees makes no economic sense, runs contrary to the company’s demands for aggressive cost-cutting measures to avoid collective redundancies and is abusing of vulnerable persons who will be exploited by the company to achieve its ends.”
The union said it was and remained committed to safeguard the employment of all employees. However, it would not permit Air Malta or the government to abuse of the pandemic or to run roughshod over the rights and interests of a genuine workforce that has been loyal to the company through thick and thin.
“This workforce is prepared to make sacrifices, in so far as they are proportionate and fair.”
It called upon the company and the government to see sense and accept proposals for a package which allowed the company a decent recovery over time, but which also allowed employees to recover a fair part of their losses if and when the industry recovered.
The UCC said it was “appalled” by this manoeuvre and disappointed at the fact that its members had been abandoned by the government when they were at their weakest.
It reminded the government of the contractual guarantees promised to cabin crew which remained binding and enforceable. The government’s failure to intervene and uphold its guarantees was recently brought to government’s attention in a judicial protest filed in court, it pointed out.
Air Malta accuses union of discriminating against own members
In a statement in the afternoon, Air Malta said that in line with its stated commitment to safeguard as many jobs as possible, it had offered the union several proposals.
These included a mechanism whereby the flight duty hours for the full-time equivalent number of crew required for its planned operations would be split between 188 crew members (currently on an indefinite contract) which the airline would retain on its books.
It also proposed to furlough its definite contract cabin crew members until the airline's operational demands required more crew than what could be met by its indefinite crew members.
The airline strongly condemned the union’s attitude and said that by walking away from the negotiating table, it was discriminating against its own members and only wanted to protect its indefinite contract members.
Air Malta said the union should present its proposals to its members for a democratic vote so that it would be in a position to make a definitive decision on a way forward.