Cabin crew union suspends directives

The Union of Cabin Crew yesterday suspended the directives it had issued to its members and which would have delayed flights by two hours today.

The directives were lifted after talks with Air Malta in their attempt to find a "win-win solution" progressed. The union and the airline said goodwill had prevailed.

Earlier this week, the union warned Air Malta that unless tangible improvement was registered in the airline's pay packet for the cabin crew it would order members to report for work two hours late today. Consequently, all flights would have been delayed.

In the coming days more talks are expected to take place in a bid to reach an agreement by Friday "to the benefit of the airline, its cabin crew and the tourism industry".

The union's warning of industrial action was met with criticism from the airline and various tourism-related organisations in Malta.

Air Malta said the union's directives were "harming Air Malta's reputation and causing inconvenience to its passengers".

It said the threat came at a time when other airlines either reduced staff or proposed to cut a month's salary because of the economic situation. The threat had come a few hours after the airline presented its latest proposal to the union.

Its latest proposal, Air Malta said, matched the union's financial requests with the sole difference being that the increase was spread over five-and-a-half years instead of four.

The union had already issued two sets of directives earlier this month in an attempt to put pressure on the airline to conclude the new contract. These included a work-to-rule directive and reduced in-flight service to passengers.