Air Malta’s cabin crew representative says he is confused by the tourism minister’s talk of job cuts at the airline, since the company continues to train new part-timers.
Noel Mercieca, president of the Union of Cabin Crew, said that in terms of the existing collective agreement, the airline needed more cabin crew, not less.
“As we speak, the airline is continuing with its six-week training course for part-time cabin crew, and unless they plan to cut more routes… I do not know what the government has in mind,” he said.
He was asked to react to Edward Zammit Lewis’s remarks in The Sunday Times of Malta that Air Malta needs to cut jobs.
The admission was the first time the government has acknowledged it would have to take hard decisions – including job cuts – at the national airline.
Mr Mercieca said the news had not been communicated officially to the union, which is still waiting for a meeting with the minister to understand what is going to happen to collective agreement talks.
“We asked for the meeting before last Sunday, because our collective agreement expired four years ago and by the end of the month we want to inform members of the outcome during the annual general meeting,” Mr Mercieca said.
I do not know what the government has in mind
He insisted the airline’s postponement of talks could not go on forever and the union would be ready to take a harsher stance if this were not rectified.
The job cuts do not appear to be immediate, with Dr Zammit Lewis telling The Sunday Times of Malta they would be looked into once a strategic partner for the airline was found.
He also said that the government had opened an “interface” with the European Commission to discuss the possibility of issuing early retirement schemes.
Such schemes are considered to be a form of state aid by Brussels, something that will not be possible after the 2010 multimillion-euro rescue package.
General Workers’ Union general secretary Josef Bugeja said that the agreement signed with the government and the airline last summer had stipulated early retirement and voluntary redundancy schemes or alternative employment in the public sector.
“This is what we are willing to accept and nothing less. The union will oppose any redundancies,” Mr Bugeja said.
The GWU represents the airline’s ground handling staff and administrative personnel.
The search for a strategic partner to snap up part of the airline has so far proved elusive.
Talks with Alitalia were formally ditched in January, nine months after they started. At the time, Dr Zammit Lewis said the next step was for the government to initiate discussions with several other airlines that had expressed an interest in partnering with Air Malta.
Last January, The Sunday Times of Malta reported that the airline was planning cost-cutting measures to the tune of €6 million and these could include job cuts and a wage freeze.
The other two unions represented at Air Malta – the Airline Pilots Association and the Union of Airline Engineers – could not be reached for comment.
kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com