Air Malta Files Injunction After ‘Bending Over Backwards’ For Pilots As Multiple Flights Are Delayed
Air Malta has filed an application for an injunction to be issued against the Maltese pilots’ union (ALPA) and the union executive committee after the pilots announced industrial actions following a disagreement over government guarantees of pilot’s early retirement scheme.
“Despite the Company’s expectation that good sense would prevail, ALPA has issued directives to its members to take industrial action, initially in the form of a 30-minute delay on all flights,” Air Malta said today.
“This action is a consequence to the Government of Malta, Air Malta’s major shareholder, declining the request to guarantee the pilots’ early retirement scheme pay-out, which sees individual pilots getting some €700,000 each at age 55. Soon after having signed a new collective agreement in January 2018, ALPA has made it clear that it had other demands to make and has raised multiple issues with the Company,” it continued.
The injunction comes after at least 12 flights experienced delays of at least 30 minutes, sometimes up to an hour or more.
“Air Malta has dedicated resources from top management for months with a view to reaching an agreement only to discover that, once reached, not even such agreement was sufficient to satisfy ALPA” – Air Malta
The Maltese airline company lamented the fact that they have been attempting to find a compromise for “18 months” only to have ALPA make a new request during a meeting on the 28th of June.
“In an effort to maintain industrial peace and avoid prejudicing its operations, the Company has entertained discussions with ALPA and has bent over backwards to achieve a compromise position which, while allowing it to compete as effectively as possible, would appease the pilots and avoid disruptions. After almost 18 months of discussions – amid various challenges, including threatened industrial action from the pilots themselves – on the 28 June 2019 Air Malta and ALPA had reached a compromise position on all matters under discussion,” Air Malta said.
“The Company’s relief was, however, short-lived when during the meeting itself ALPA declared that if Government did not accept to grant the guarantees ALPA was after, it would take industrial action as of the 1 July 2019,” it continued. “Whereas Air Malta acknowledges that taking industrial action is a right protected by law, such right is not unrestricted and Air Malta cannot bear the consequence of a disagreement between its employees and its shareholder.”
Air Malta said their legal injunction was firmly grounded
“ALPA’s demands do not even qualify as a trade dispute, thereby forfeiting the immunity granted by law to the union and its members for acts done in furtherance of a trade dispute,” the company said. “ALPA also failed to give adequate notice of such action to the Company in terms of the collective agreement. Accordingly, an in order to safeguard its right, its operation and with a view to avoiding further inconvenience to its clients, Air Malta has filed an application requesting the Court to stop ALPA and its members from taking any further illegal action which is prejudicial to the Company and its rights. Air Malta will quantify the damages suffered as a consequence of the illegal action taken and will seek to recover such damages from the pilots.”
This latest battle between Air Malta and Maltese pilots comes just weeks after the announcement of Malta Air, the new Ryanair airline to be based in Malta. While the announcement of the new Malta-based airline led to the excitement in investors and industry insiders, some Maltese employees working in the aviation industry have expressed their concerns about what this means for the local industry.
What do you think of the newest disagreement between Air Malta and Maltese pilots?
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