Air Malta to launch early retirement schemes next week

Air Malta will launch its voluntary redundancy and early retirement schemes next week.

In a statement, the airline announced its new organisation structure as part of its restructuring plan.

It said that with the need to undergo fundamental reorganisation and transformation, many departments have been reengineered and restructured.

Chief executive Peter Davies said that although there is the requirement to reduce employee numbers by more than 500, the reorganisation has created over 100 new positions in ground operations, commercial, finance, information technology, flight operations and engineering.

"These positions are now open for all staff to apply," Mr Davies said.

He said he expected most of the new positions would be filled by existing Air Malta employees.

"This is a major step in the restructuring of Air Malta. We have now announced the new job positions and since these are new posts a selection process will be undertaken.

"This has been thoroughly discussed and communicated to the unions in question throughout the consultation process. The process we will adopt provides a clear, transparent and efficient selection process that is driven by merit," he said.

Earlier today, the General Workers' Union said Air Malta was playing a dangerous game in the creation of new roles to play around with the last in first out policy.

In the new structure, the main functions that comprise the leadership team are organisational development, commercial, finance, flight operations, engineering and maintenance and information technology.

A new feature is a program management office, which will manage the multiple restructuring projects that form part of the transformation of the airline. It will also give the airline the ability to implement change successfully – which can give it a competitive advantage.

To support the process the airline launched a portal on its intranet dedicated to its restructuring exercise containing the new vacant positions tied with new position descriptions and a frequently asked questions section.

Employees can apply for new jobs within the airline until the end of December.

In a staff circular sent to employees, the airline also highlighted the options available, information about the selection process and the decision period timeframes.

In reply to the GWU statement, Mr Davies said:

"Air Malta's management denies that it is playing games or trying to evade the law in connection with redundancy. We have no intention of doing that. The restructuring process has required a thorough reorganisation that has resulted in new posts being created and others becoming redundant. The management is fully aware of its rights and obligations."

He added: "We will be holding a series of staff information sessions next week where management will provide an update on the company's current performance, the challenges ahead and provide an update on the voluntary redundancy and early retirement schemes."

See also:

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20111209/local/air-malta-management-playing-dangerous-game-gwu.397591