Monday, 27th April 2009
Dispute over delayed flight
Cabin crew union prefers talks to strike action
The Union of Cabin Crew said it preferred discussing a solution to a dispute with Air Malta over a delayed flight rather than resorting to the full-blown strike it had warned of.
The forewarning had come after Air Malta said it would be filing a judicial protest against the union and the five cabin crew who refused to operate a Moscow flight on Thursday, causing a 16-hour delay and a €109,000 bill to the airline because they would have exceeded their flying time by three minutes.
The situation caused delays on another two flights too.
Union president David Sargent said it was up to the committee to decide on the possibility of a full-blown strike but he augured that the airline was merely sabre rattling.
The committee will be meeting this morning and Mr Sargent said the union's action would depend on Air Malta's.
"Our aim is to talk things out and to find solutions through discussion. Action does nobody any good, especially workers," he said. He told The Sunday Times that if Air Malta went ahead with the action against the crew it would face "big consequences". No steps have yet been taken against the five cabin crew, Mr Sargent said.
He was collating information on what exactly happened in order to obtain a "clearer picture". "There is more to it than the issue of the three minutes," he said, adding that the issue had a "long history".
Air Malta chairman Lawrence Zammit said the flight captain had offered to cut down flying time to compensate for the delay but this was refused.
Mr Sargent said yesterday he had reports that this was not the case and he was looking into it. But Mr Zammit reiterated that his management had told him so.
"I am hearing the different versions to verify the facts. After all, if the issue ends up in court it is only facts that count," Mr Sargent said.
With regard to the possibility of taking disciplinary action if it were established that the five crew members had acted incorrectly, Mr Zammit said it would be up to the independent disciplinary commissioner to determine that. A whole process, including a board of appeal, would have to take its course.
The case has not yet been referred to the commissioner, Mr Zammit said.
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Comments
Who are you to tell the crew what to do and whether they should be warned for sticking to their rights?
About the incident the company should take all the blame because they had no crew available on standby, hence suggesting not having enough cabin crew working for the company. This is shameful! The cabin crew had the right not to except due to flight time limitations that may I remind you no union invented them!
Safety should be the airline's priority and if the airline can't see this then they have a problem. I happened to see a cabin crew's roster and oh my the amount of flights!!! Crew rostered on overtime month about to be started and all with denied OFF days. May i also add that since I have friends working with the Airline I also know that on these Moscow flights the Flight crew do not fall out of hours easily because they have back up crew on the flight because the flight exceeds 12 hrs duty. Why not the crew?
The cabin crew never wait for Airmalta to give them a paid holiday and go shopping and sight seeing. When we want to go shopping and sightseeing we take a holiday which is paid from our pockets. And just to let you know this case happened in out of Malta, where cabin crew came well rested for their flight.
How do you know what cabin crew do when they are abroad??? Are you there with them???
@Mr Briffa
The crew involved were in the right so there is no need for the company to threaten them. The discussion should centre around the unavailability of standbys, a condition which has existed for years now.....not weeks, not months but YEARS!!!
I think it is time for you armchair critics to stop making hurtful & unjustified comments & let the people who know ALL the facts take care of this situation.
I believe in freedom of speech but it only counts if you know what you are talking about!!!
With the exception of stops in CTA and the very occasional day trip there are no stops overseas for Air Malta cabin crew. At most an Air Malta cabin crew will get 1-2 nights away from home a month and possibily one day trip a year. Of course let us not let this get in the way of the LANZIT that people like you are showing. Tell us what your job is now and we can then all have a go at making up the perks you enjoy.
THREE MINUTES folks. That's all we're talking about here. Are we seriously going to give the cabin crew in question ANY justification here ? We're in the middle of a global recession. Businesses are having a tough time surviving. People are losing jobs left right and center and they decide not to fly because they'd go THREE MINUTES over their union agreed flying time. Really ? Seriously ?
Wow! Private industry scoffs at unions because they view unionized labour as lazy and unable to obtain and retain work without the help of militant organizations. Unions work hard to prove people wrong by trying to be a force for good in the workplace but this incident is the kind of thing that gives unions a bad name. They should kick these people out of the union. Those cabin crew don't deserve jobs.