Hundreds of Air Malta workers took to the streets in Valletta yesterday marching in silence towards the Office of the Prime Minister at Castille demanding the company and their jobs be safeguarded.
The four unions represented at Air Malta – the Airline Pilots Association, the Union of Cabin Crew, the Association of Airline Engineers and the General Workers’ Union – marched side by side in a show of unity.
Speaking on the stairs of Castille, representatives of the four unions said it was the government’s responsibility, as the airline’s shareholder, to ensure Air Malta continued to function and that workers would not suffer the consequences of years of mismanagement.
However, it was John Bencini, president of the Forum of trade unions (among others, the confederation groups together pilots, cabin crew and engineers), who reserved the harshest words for Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.
He implied that Dr Gonzi “bought” Air Malta workers’ votes before the election with what he described as an “infamous” letter in which Dr Gonzi had promised them that their job was secure.
Mr Bencini read Dr Gonzi’s letter in full and this was followed by booing from the crowd.
He said that even a fool would ask why nobody from management had at the time given the Prime Minister the advice not to send that letter now that it was clear the company had been making losses for five years.
“There are different ways of how one can buy a vote and, to my knowledge, criminal action is taken when this is done. You can buy a vote by paying for it but also by making empty promises,” Mr Bencini said to rousing applause.
He said the government had the duty to defend every job at Air Malta before sending “a second letter in the form of a dismissal notice”.
Alpa president Domenic Azzopardi defended the strike action pilots were ready to take but which was called off after a meeting with Dr Gonzi earlier this week.
“Where are those who said they were worried about the future of Air Malta and urged us not to strike because they said the strike would have crippled Air Malta? Where were they when Air Malta was losing €3 million a month for the past eight months and no action was taken to stop these losses? The damage was done by those who did nothing to stop these losses,” Capt. Azzopardi said.
Pilots, he added, wanted to safeguard the airline and reiterated that in their meeting with Dr Gonzi they were promised that action would be taken.
“We believe that the Prime Minister will deliver on this promise but we will remain vigilant and we expect to hear how Malta International Airport charges have been reduced and other contracts renegotiated,” Capt. Azzopardi said.
He hit out at Ryanair, saying the low-cost carrier had no interest in Malta but came here to take millions of euros in subsidies and when these stopped the airline would just leave.
In a conciliatory tone, Capt. Azzopardi said his union forgave the group of 62 Air Malta employees who earlier this week filed a judicial protest holding Alpa responsible for damages if the strike went ahead.
The protest was also addressed by GWU general secretary Tony Zarb, who lamented that it was not right to leave Air Malta workers in a state of uncertainty that was causing tension.
Mr Zarb listed three conditions the union laid down as a basis for agreement: a guarantee of alternative employment for those not opting for the early retirement schemes and who were to be made redundant; an improvement to the proposed retirement schemes; and talks on rather than the imposition of new work practices.
The union, he said, could not accept a situation where all the working conditions obtained over the years were thrown out of the window when it was not the workers’ fault that Air Malta had ended up in its current state.
David Sargent, from the Union of Cabin Crew, said management had told them Air Malta lost €110 million over five years and asked whether anybody would be held to account for the losses the company made.
The unions, he said, were watchful and wanted contracts to be renegotiated because it was unfair on workers to shoulder all the responsibility for the situation.
John Camilleri, from the Association of Airline Engineers, said the solution to Air Malta’s problems would not be found by just making employees redundant.
He appealed to management and shareholders to find other solutions even to protect the airline’s social role in the economy.
The quiet and peaceful protest was marred by a small incident at the beginning during which a man accused Mr Zarb of being a shareholder in the airline and of doing nothing to protect the workers’ interest. The man was eventually moved away.
The protest was also attended by the Malta Union of Teachers, Labour leader Joseph Muscat, his deputies and a number of Labour MPs.
Leftist organisations Graffitti and Żminijietna and former Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, under the banner of his Campaign for National Independence, were also present.