It is not unusual for the employees of a business in distress to deny the seriousness of the troubles their company faces and blame management for exploiting them or making the wrong decisions. This is the state of denial that precedes the more traumatic phase when all employees have to face reality that often translates itself in loss of jobs or deteriorating working conditions.

There is no doubt that Air Malta is facing the most difficult phase of its history. Its business model is no longer viable and a rescue plan based on its integration with another airline will definitely not be painless for all concerned. In this difficult context, it is astonishing to read that the Airline Pilots Association is driving a hard bargain to obtain substantial increases in their take-home pay. They are either flying blind, not knowing exactly where the national airline is heading, or are determined to press for pay increases come what may, even if they must know the company cannot afford it, especially at a time when it is trying to strike the best possible deal for a rescue plan with Alitalia.

The stark reality that Air Malta is facing is that it either finds a workable agreement with another airline based on synergies or just close shop because of its inability to have the taxpayer or State-owned banks finance its losses. Banks are prohibited from providing back-door State aid for failed national entities like Air Malta. Cyprus Air and Sabena know a thing or two about these regulations that are now applied very strictly throughout the EU by competition authorities.

Air Malta chairwoman Maria Micallef has labelled the pilots’ union actions as “unreasonable and self-serving”. Indeed, industrial action in the peak of the summer season would not only cost the national carrier a reported €500,000 per annum but would put at risk the jobs of thousands of people who depend on the peak tourist season for their employment.

The airline was forced to seek court redress and a judge has now issued a temporary injunction stopping the pilots from taking industrial action.

Trade unions usually pride themselves with the solidarity they show with other unions in difficult times. Judging by the way it is behaving, the Air Malta pilots’ union is showing little inclination in expressing such solidarity. It would be very cynical, if not out rightly shameful, for pilots to flex their muscles at this stage of delicate negotiations with Alitalia simply because they know they have transferrable skills and if the worse comes to the worse they can always apply to work with another foreign airline.

Cabin crew, clerical workers, check-in staff and other hundreds of Air Malta employees have limited options of finding alternative employment if the talks with the Italian company or with some other airline fail.

Admittedly, pilots have a very responsible and highly-skilled job and, as such, they deserve to be adequately paid for their valid contribution to the airline. However, now is the time for workers, irrespective of the department they work in or their level of responsibility, to unite and show real solidarity to save their company from extinction.

In business you are as good as your latest set of accounts indicate. The EU has given Air Malta reasonable time to put its house in order to be able to compete with the best of breed in the European airlines industry. Air Malta pilots seem to be taking this concession for granted.