GWU members reject government proposals

General Workers' Union members yesterday unanimously rejected the government's draft agreement for Air Malta, aimed at cutting costs as part of a bid to revive the ailing airline.

Manwel Zammit, the union's maritime and aviation section secretary, said the airline workers were particularly unhappy about a proposed guarantee of employment which they found to be "vague and open to interpretation".

In a bid to turn the airline around without making people redundant, the government wants to reduce workers' take-home pay, by cutting allowances and overtime.

Asked whether the workers had specifically turned down any proposals on pay, Mr Zammit said it was not appropriate to discuss the issue at this stage of talks with the government and the company.

Following the meeting for workers, Mr Zammit and other GWU officials met the three other unions involved in the talks, the pilots', engineers' and cabin crew unions.

All the unions have now rejected the government's proposals. Coordinated by George Abela, the GWU's former legal adviser, they will now come up with counter-proposals.

They are supposed to submit them by tomorrow at noon, but Mr Zammit was not certain they would meet the deadline.

He said common proposals would be submitted by the unions together, but it was not yet decided how to approach those that were particular to the individual unions.

Air Malta's operating losses on airline activities stood at Lm8.86 million for the year ended July 2003, according to unpublished accounts seen by The Times.

Besides cost-cutting measures, the government has also promised a Lm30 million injection and wants to see the airline increase its revenue substantially.