All is not well between the four unions represented at Air Malta with engineers shunning a national protest called for Friday, despite presenting a united front yesterday when announcing the event.

The bone of contention seems to be the threat pilots have made to ground the entire Air Malta fleet on Saturday in what could be an unprecedented strike.

The Association of Airline Engineers and the Union of Cabin Crew does not agree with the strike action while the General Workers’ Union is adopting a wait-and-see approach.

However, while engineers have shunned the protest, the other two unions will be marching alongside the pilots in Valletta on Friday.

Airline Pilots Association president Domenic Azzopardi yesterday said that a final decision over whether to strike would be taken on Wednesday depending on whether government presented “in black and white” its plans on how to tackle the issue of airport charges andlow- cost airlines, which they blame for Air Malta’s financial woes.

While the four unions yesterday sat next to each other with Forum president John Bencini (pilots, cabin crew and engineers are members of the forum confederation) they avoided talking about the proposed strike.

Mr Bencini said the protest “to save Air Malta and in solidarity with its workers” will be held in Valletta at 6 p.m. and will proceed from St George’s Square to Castille.

Contacted after the press conference, a spokesman for the engineers’ union said that during an extraordinary general meeting held last Friday, members did not authorise the committee to take part in the protest.

“We were present for the press conference out of respect for the forum of which we are members. But we are also against any strike action at the moment. If circumstances change we will get back to our members for approval on whether to participate in the protest,” the spokesman said.

He added that engineers had held “constructive meetings” with management and were informed that only two engineers would be made redundant.

Union of Cabin Crew president David Sargent said: “We will be participating in the protest because we believe people and workers have a right to know what is going on, but we will not be participating in any strike action,” he said.

Adopting a cautionary approach, GWU general secretary Tony Zarb said the union had to wait and see whether the strike would go ahead.

“Rather than saying whether we support it or not, the GWU appeals to all parties involved, the pilots, government and management to find a solution so there will not be any need for a strike. The union will participate in the protest but will take a decision on whether to support the strike after Wednesday when it is clear what will happen.”

Earlier, Mr Zarb lamented that during a meeting with Air Malta’s management the company was not in a position to tell the union how many employees in the different sections would be made redundant. Meanwhile, Mr Azzopardi acknowledged that the other unions were wary of the strike because they feared the government may use it as an excuse to shut down the airline.

“The government will not shut it down but it has to declare whether there is an agenda to privatise Air Malta. We do not want to strike but it cannot be that the company’s finances are being drained by lucrative contracts with third parties including Malta International Airport and that workers are expected to carry the can,” Mr Azzopardi said, insisting that the other unions knew they were right.

To mitigate the impact of low-cost airlines, Mr Azzopardi also suggested the government includes a clause in the tenders for new routes stipulating that airlines would have to also carry cargo.

The pilots’ threat to strikewas condemned by all tourism operators who warned of potentially devastating repercussions on the economy.

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech yesterday condemned the pilots’ behaviour since no industrial dispute has been officially declared and so the airline did not know what Alpa was protesting about.

Speaking to The Sunday Times, he urged caution because industrial strife at this point in time may threaten the airline’s existence.

“Air Malta has to live on the cash flow it generates because thegovernment cannot pump inmore money without the European Commission approving therestructuring plan. Any strike has financial consequences and it may have a disastrous effect on the company. I hope that those who are threatening a strike without even registering an industrial dispute desist from doing so because this is a very irresponsible act.”

Mr Fenech said it was unclear whether Alpa’s dispute was with Air Malta or with MIA, in which case striking would be illegal.

“The government’s position is clear that all contracts Air Malta has, including those with MIA, will be re-evaluated – but Mr Azzopardi is dreaming if he believes that the solution to all of Air Malta’s problems is reducing MIA fees,” Mr Fenech said.

MIA also issued a statement, insisting that its charges amounting to an average of €19.89 per departing passenger have remained unchanged since 2006.

“These charges are within the European average and are divided into fixed and variable. The fixed are purposely on the low side and these include landing and parking, whereas the variable passenger and security fees are based on the number of filled seats,” MIA said.

The company added that the variable component was there to favour airlines “as any business would like to have its costs tied with the number of clients”.

The company also denied that Air Malta paid €375,000 for renting out the pilots’ briefing room from MIA, as claimed by Mr Azzopardi last week.

“The amount paid for rent by Air Malta to MIA in a year is lower than that quoted,” the MIA statement said.

Air Malta chairman Louis Farrugia reiterated last night that all the airline’s service agreements were under review.

ksansone@timesofmalta.com