Air Malta pilots on work to rule
Members of the Airline Pilots’ Association are following a work to rule because of pending disputes with Air Malta.
The association (ALPA – Malta) and Air Malta signed a collective agreement in January last year.
ALPA said in a statement that in view of the precarious financial situation Air Malta had been facing, and to help promote economic recovery, it had agreed to forfeit arrears and delay the commencement of the increase in salaries to April.
However, Air Malta kept dragging its feet when it came to implementing what was signed and sealed.
The association said there were are numerous pending disputes ranging from the issuing of incorrect rosters and procrastination on reaching an agreement on an annual vacation leave policy to more serious situations such as the airline’s refusal to purchase a proper loss of license insurance for pilots older than 55.
Air Malta had also proposed a Health and Safety Handbook pertaining to the field of work, but this had not yet been distributed.
ALPA said that for the past 18 months, it proceeded with utmost caution and refrained from resorting to drastic industrial action. But the situation continued to deteriorate.
Following a vote during its annual general meeting, 92 per cent expressed themselves in favour of a work to rule.
Pilots, ALPA said, would continue to fully respect their contractual obligations without going beyond the call of duty.
29 Comments
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Capt. Kevin Whitehead
Nov 23rd 2009, 06:52
Even though most of you do not understand it we are only fighting for what is rightfully ours and for what has been signed for in a unanimous vote for a collective agreement.
T Mifsud
Nov 21st 2009, 11:43
@Capt J Fenech
Why don't you take your dispute straight to court? If Air Malta management is not honouring a contract, surely the court will outrightly shoot the management down and order it at once to honour the contract to every fullstop there is.
Is this the same like when Air Malta does not acknowledge customer care blunders, perhaps when the traveller was right but the company makes it difficult for him to get what is rightly his/hers? Never mind the innumerable letters sent to Air Malta, they don't get answered untill one appears in the media! I guess a number of us have passed through this situation before!
Capt J Fenech
Nov 21st 2009, 11:25
Infact,in these last few weeks, 2 pilots have just handed in their resignation
Jeremy J Camilleri
Nov 21st 2009, 11:24
Same old folks saying the same old things..In Malta workers can, when need be, resort to industrial action....
Learn to live with it.
Sorry if that spoils your thatcherite fantasies ......
T Mifsud
Nov 21st 2009, 11:00
@Alfred Fenech
"How many pilot got thousands of pounds worth of training paid by the company and when times got rough they ran off mostly to the middle east simply for more money?"
You are an uninformed citizen. The pilots left their employment, their home and their family not because as you say for more money, but because salaries were reduced and pilots were treated badly. After all pilots are professionals and they look out for a professional company giving them professional treatment. They have in fact an incredible responsibility of lives of people in a very fragile environment! Would you feel safe in an aircraft that has a technical problem in bad weather if the pilot is sick or badly treated by the company? I wouldn't! On the other hand I am confident the pilots are standing for what is theirs per contract.
An unhonoured contract by the management of Air Malta is a recepie for another large bunch of pilots to depart the company. Easyjet may set up base here and that will be the demise of Air Malta because alot of pilots will depart leaving AirMalta with no one to fly the schedule!
Capt J Fenech
Nov 21st 2009, 10:59
@ Alfred Fenech – I don’t know if other employees in Air Malta get a Loss of License insurance. It may be that they did not negotiate it in their collective agreement. ALPA did and Air Malta accepted. Now Air Malta refuses to buy such insurance even though it is stipulated in the Collective Agreement.
As for your comments on Crew Transport, apart from the fact that the provision of transport is also agreed and part and parcel of the collective agreement, I suggest you try to catch a bus to/from Airport at 1am.
By ordering the work to rule, we are instructing the pilots to work as per collective agreement, nothing less, nothing more. On the other hand, Air Malta is not honoring the collective agreement and it i doing this on several accunts.
Capt J Fenech
Nov 21st 2009, 10:36
@ Alfred Fenech – Pilots are bonded to work with Air Malta for unreasonable amounts and periods (in access of € 65,000 and up to 10 years), compare this with other airlines who don their pilots for 3 years or less. The licenses required to become a pilots are very expensive, whilst a few pilots have had training completely sponsored by Air Malta, the majority of pilots could have paid close to €100,000 in training from his own pocket, usually after taking a loan from a commercial bank. In the mean time, Air Malta deducts a percentage of the training costs from the pilot’s salary.
@T Borg. Crew Transport is not a bad practice but part of the collective agreement signed between Air Malta and ALPA
Capt J Fenech
Nov 21st 2009, 10:21
@ C Farrugia. You will not see pilots "chatting away doing nothing". We have to be on the Aircraft 35 mins prior to departure. The walk from Flight Operations to the Aircraft is about 10 minutes. AIRMALTA wants us to report for duty 1hrs before departure, therefore a pilot has got 15mins to print and review his flight plans, check the weather of his destination and enroute, perform special briefings for particularly difficult airports apart from viewing any relevant new notices that are routinely issued and checking the implications defects the aircraft he would be flying has on the flight.
Alfred Fenech
Nov 21st 2009, 05:03
Well said by A. Dalli. How many pilot got thousands of pounds worth of training paid by the company and when times got rough they ran off mostly to the middle east simply for more money? If pilots are worried about loss of licence insurance, then they should pay for it themselves. Do the rest of the employees get any such insurance? Some pilots, not all, need to come down from the pedestal that they have sat on for all these years and start accepting the realities of this day and age. They can start by driving themselves to work or as other employees do they should catch a bus. I am sure this would save the company thousands of euros every year and the finacial position of the company can start to improve.
George Mifsud
Nov 21st 2009, 00:38
@Capt J. Fenech - Keep firm in your demands and do let other interference such as politics and emotions in our negotiations. On the other hand do bear in mind that all training has been given to you by the airline you need to give some back.
Stephen Borg Cardona
Nov 21st 2009, 00:24
One wonders whether the Pilots have a realistic view of the International situation as regards the aviation industry.
t.borg
Nov 20th 2009, 23:07
l-airmalta destinata ghal falliment minhabba hafna prattici hziena fosthom li l-kaptani u l-crew ghandhom transport b'xejn mid-dar u lura.
C. Farrugia
Nov 20th 2009, 22:34
Air Malta will have to go the Sabena, Swiss Air and Alitalia way in order to be put in order. It is without salvation. The employees just cannot realise the state of the situation. Bickering on small things when their livlihood and those of others is at stake. Just go to the airport and at any one time you can see Air Malta employees chatting away busy doing nothing. Compare the Air Malta ground staff to the other private ground handling company and the difference is glaring.
J Farrugia
Nov 20th 2009, 22:19
I'm a bit idiotic. But I have a mind of my own. If a collective agreement has been signed, who is not honouring it? Why? No Money? Let's talk about it. Like they did when all the unions agreed to save Airmalta through the intervention of Dr George Abela. What has happened since then, why is the company not honouring the collective agreement? Why did it sign it? To trick the pilots? AM HAS ENOUGH MONEY TO GIVE TO LOCAL ORGANISATIONS IN ADVERTISING. Reduce your own phenomenal salaries and let's call a spade a spade. Sacrifices must be an allround effort and not give and no take. So the pilots are right in taking limited action against a scrooge of a company. Now I know that other airlines gave the sack to thousands of their employees but Airmalta kept on going even through thick and thin. So once more gather round a table in a true and honest dialogue and try to find an amicable solution to all the pending problems. If a sincere effort is made the way will be easy to accomodate the pilots recriiminations without disturbing industrial peace. So atta boy.
M.Bezzina
Nov 20th 2009, 22:01
Doris Pace ex-Pat (2 hours, 32 minutes ago)
I hope AirMalta will sort this problem out, otherwise we have no option but to book through RyanAir and if we like their service then we will probably stick to them, and Airmalta will loose out, not only our group but perhaps others will follow. so get off that big fat butt of yours and do something before the Xmas Period.
You are free to do so anytime!!
Jeremy J Camilleri
Nov 20th 2009, 21:59
Why is it that when their is a dispute, the same old folks, attack the workers, using the same arguments...
It takes two to tango..If one party does not honour an agreement, then that party is to blame...simple...but simple is too hard for some...
Capt J Fenech President ALPA Malta
Nov 20th 2009, 21:35
@ Joe Vella – We do thank God. But we also ask why Air Malta has enough money to carry stranded passengers of other Airlines but it then refuses to honour a collective agreement it signed? We ask why we give the company 110% but only get 80% in return?
Capt J Fenech President ALPA Malta
Nov 20th 2009, 21:17
@ A. Dalli – If your company tells you to buy your own insurance which it should be paying, and if your company pressures you to take Off day’s instead of sick leave, or sends you threatening letters because you took as little at 11 days of sick leave in a year, tell me what you would do. Several of the pending problems do not cost money, but just require better management. A Collective Agreement is a contract signed by both parties.
JOE VELLA
Nov 20th 2009, 21:07
The employees should thank God that Air Malta is still on going. Many other worldwide airline companies reduced the number of employees, others closed down. If you see the news of today , you can see what I am refering.
Capt J. Fenech President ALPA Malta
Nov 20th 2009, 21:06
@C.Camilleri - The collective agreement has been signed almost 2 years ago. How much longer can we wait? In the meantime, we have pilots who have been harassed and others flying without a Loss of Licence insurance that is stipulated in the collective agreement. Air Malta is procrastinating on the pending issues. To date we don’t have a proper Annual Vacation Leave policy even though this should have been done 20 months ago. Taking Leave when you really need it is a nightmare.
Contrary to what you think, our job is not secured, but we cannot be held ransom by the company anymore
By a work to rule, we will be following our contractual obligations, it is about time Air Malta did the same.
c.camilleri
Nov 20th 2009, 20:48
It is interesting to know what 'work to rule' really means. For some workers it means doing nothing, others do part of their jobs, and other do what they like. While there is a different interpretation there is common ground on one point. In all cases the employees continue to get their pay.The company should not accept this nonsense as this continues to depress its financial position.
a.dalli
Nov 20th 2009, 20:36
Unions are not involved for the simple reason that if all Air Malta employees have at this point in time to get what is rightly their's, the company will probably be declared bankrupt. Pilots will then in turn perhaps go and fly low cost airline equipment. But the rest of the employees will get nothing. So yes Unions wake up and do not let ALPA chart Air Malta's future. You must be ashamed of yourselves.
T Mifsud
Nov 20th 2009, 20:21
Hopefully the flights wont be affected but if they are, Air Malta should sort itself out. There are too many towers being built trying to tower each other within the same building and the pilots have had enough of this!
c. camilleri
Nov 20th 2009, 20:19
Is this the time for Air Malta pilots to gamble with the company's future. Other Airlines have discharged thousands of their workers with those remaining have cut in their pay. But our Airlines still want to play micky mouse. Because some a Minister told them that their job is guaranteed. Is our Airline exempted from European rules which allow no subsidies.It is interested to know the financial situation and how Airmalta is going to finance its deficit if any.
Galea. L
Nov 20th 2009, 19:44
Ph. Bath If the employer does not abide by the collective agreement there is nothing else to do but to resort to industrial action. This is the sort of destructive policy which has been going on since the PN government came to power. Paul Barrett Paul, the thing is that most employees do other work which does not fall within their job description so it saves money for the employer, but when the employer does not comply with what had been agreed, then there is nothing else but to resort to industrial action in the hope that he will be made to comply with what was agreed.
J.Borg
Nov 20th 2009, 19:28
@Ph. Bath First let me make it clear that I am not an airline pilot. The issue here is not that this is good news for RyanAir and EasyJet, that may indeed be a consequence of all this. The issue here is that an endorsed Collective Agreements is being ignored. This is not the first time that this tactic is being used in European and Democratic Malta. Where are the Unions? Why should Unions not get together to say a clear and loud ...NO. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. Good luck airline pilots. However, please do not hurt us passengers. Do not use us as your ammunition..when some of us may have saved up money to go for a small holiday. Your ammunition should be against those who are not respecting what was endorsed. Please keep passengers on your side ...and do not make them turn against you.
Doris Pace ex-Pat
Nov 20th 2009, 19:26
I hope AirMalta will sort this problem out, otherwise we have no option but to book through RyanAir and if we like their service then we will probably stick to them, and Airmalta will loose out, not only our group but perhaps others will follow. so get off that big fat butt of yours and do something before the Xmas Period.
Paul Barrett
Nov 20th 2009, 19:19
I have probably got this wrong but if the pilots are going to work to rule and also respect their contractual duty, that is all that is asked of them - so what effect does this have?
Ph. Bath
Nov 20th 2009, 19:08
This sounds like good news for RyanAir and EasyJet, this is exactly what these cheapie carriers want. Airmalta falling into their lap just before Christmass like a load of Kippers.