Pilots see new offer as ‘unsatisfactory’ as Air Malta puts the ball in unions’ court

● Workers offered 20% salary increase over five-year period

Sources close to the Air Malta pilots union have poured cold water on the government’s latest offer to employees, made just yesterday, saying that it was “not satisfactory”.

Speaking to this newspaper yesterday evening following discussions between the airline, its unions and the government, where a new deal of a 20% pay increase staggered over five years was offered to employees across the board was put on the table, sources close to ALPA who wished to remain anonymous said that the deal did not constitute a 20% increase.

Unions have been given a deadline of 1 January 2018 to decide on the offer.

“Far from it. In most case pilots will end up earning less and working more in 2018 compared with 2017.”

Sources insist that yesterday’s offer should not be the final one, and that discussions should continue as they feel that the “distribution of the airline’s financial resources was not being done evenly.”

The same increase will be applied to all Air Malta employees, regardless of their position in the company.

The 20% will be staggered across the five years as follows; the first year 5%, the second 1.5%, the third 5%, the fourth 1.5%, the fifth 5%.

“The current wage increase average is 3-4% per year. This does not work when considering the financial situation of the company,” Air Malta Chairman Charles Mangion said.

Speaking at a press conference following a meeting between Air Malta and workers’ unions, as negotiations over new collective agreements with the unions drag on, Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi explained that the offer presented to the unions was the most the company could offer if the company is to survive.

Unions have been given a deadline of 1 January 2018 to decide on the offer.

The meeting, Mizzi said, was an open discussion where the unions were given a clear overview of the airline, its existing finances and financial situation, the strategy for the future and revenue growth.

When facing questions from the press, Mizzi revealed that there are some unions who are still not convinced by the package being offered in the collective agreements but stressed that this was the only way the company could guarantee work and take-home pay.

“We are confident that commonsense will prevail,” Mizzi said. “We need to avoid the same situation that happened to Cyprus Air, Swiss Air, and other state-owned companies.”

The airline will also employ IASA flight regulations, which are employed by British Airways and other leading international airlines, to improve productivity and flexibility.

The regulations will see pilots work longer hours, and will also reduce the number of crew per flight.

Mizzi remarked, “We do not need five cabin crew members per flight. We are able to increase our fleet by 5-9 planes and still not need to increase staff, that is how inefficient the company has been running.”

Engineers will also be subject to more flexible rosters.

“We have projected a sense of fairness.”

The minister also spoke of the hiving agreement reached with the GWU which will see Ground Handling operations moved to a separate company wholly owned by the Government of Malta.

The sections affected are the Ground Handling Service Operations Section, the Ground Equipment Maintenance Section, and the Cargo Operations section. The new company will provide services to Air Malta and other airlines.

Mizzi denied allegations that workers involved the hiving agreement found out of the plan through the media and insisted that everything was communicated with through the unions prior to any announcement. He also said that PN Leader Adrian Delia was misinformed when saying that the agreement was infringing on industrial relations.

“Delia must not have understood. If the changes don’t happen there will be more costs than income, creditors will not be paid and the company will become insolvent. As a responsible government, we set up another company to avoid this.”

Asked by The Malta Independent whether the strategy was being implemented in order to make the airline more financially attractive for private investment in the future, Mizzi said that there is an internal analysis taking place to see what direction the company would take in future.

He explained that a partnering strategy, either through a direct partner or different partnerships in different joint ventures, would be implemented with the aim of making Air Malta the airline of the Mediterranean.

The minister also stressed that for the strategy to work, the country needed to be unified on the plan, and said that this was not an issue that needed to be infiltrated by partisan politics.

“For the airline to have a future, we need everyone on the same side.

“The message to the unions, and even workers who are not part of any union is that this is a national effort and we need to do it together.”

This newsroom yesterday attempted to contact the pilots union (ALPA), the Cabin Crew Union, the Union of Engineers and the General Workers’ Union but comments were not forthcoming by the time of going to print.