Pilots have gone to court to begin proceedings against the government, calling on it to fulfil contractual obligations it had entered through an agreement signed by the former Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi.

The agreement was signed on January 26, 2018 and promised Air Malta pilots "a guarantee of a job in Malta and a take-home pay, according to the conditions of the collective agreement signed earlier today." 

It was a side letter to a collective agreement signed between the pilots' union ALPA and Mizzi on the government's behalf. 

Air Malta terminated the contracts of 69 of its pilots on June 8, following disputes over pay cuts. 

The pilots were sacked after refusing to have their salaries reduced to the level requested by the airline amid the COVID-19 slowdown.

At the end of July, pilots had voted to take industrial action in protest over the dismissal of their colleagues and breaches of the collective agreement and conditions of employment.

In August, Air Malta said that serving Air Malta pilots turned down an offer by the airline that would have seen their recently-dismissed colleagues reinstated, albeit at reduced pay.

ALPA said on Tuesday that despite being formally called upon to participate in the discussions preceding the termination, as well as discussions aimed at reaching an amicable agreement, the government persistently refused to recognise any obligation to do so, ALPA said.

It said that during the negotiations with Air Malta, members of the airline’s senior management team had repeatedly made it clear that the government, as its main shareholder, was only ready to reach an amicable agreement with the association relating to the re-employment of its members if ALPA were to renounce to the rights deriving from the agreement.

It had, therefore, sanctioned the strategic use of negotiation tactics which ran counter to core European and democratic values in an attempt to trample on contractual and employee rights, as well as collective rights deriving from member’s freedom of association. 

ALPA said the government was well aware of the fact that ALPA had persistently reaffirmed its intention to do its utmost to contribute to the growth of the local aviation sector.

It was, therefore, disheartening that such irregularities necessitated direct action against the government for members’ legal and contractual rights to be respected.

Correction September 2: A previous version of this article stated that the union had filed a judicial protest, not court proceedings.