Air Malta pilots and cabin crew unions resist COVID-19 salary cuts

The pilots and cabin crew unions of Malta’s national airline are resisting having their monthly salaries cut down to €1,200 due to the coronavirus pandemic grounding Air Malta’s fleet and shuttering Malta International Airport.

Air Malta is taking drastic decisions as it faces considerable losses for the 2019 financial year, having had to discontinue 140 cabin crew on full- and part-time definite contracts after pilots and cabin crew unions refused the pay cuts.

Both the ALPA and UCC unions are resisting an offer from management to agree on a minimum take-home pay of €1,200, or the average pay of the last 12 months, as a basic monthly salary applicable to all on indefinite and definite contracts.

This would mean that a part of the cabin crew personnel would have to renounce their take-home pay, which averages €36,000 annually. Pilots are paid upwards of €70,000-€80,000, depending on their grade.

Sources said the €1,200 salary is in line with what government has offered other companies in  the private sector, that is a €800 monthly subsidy for employees whose employers pay up to €1,200.

“Air Malta is under the strictures of a restructuring programme to get the company back on track from losses due to its cumbersome operation, fluctuations in fuel prices, and harsh competition from low-cost airlines. The COVID-19 crisis has brought tourism to a halt and Air Malta’s cash returns from ticket sales vanished overnight. Flying in stranded citizens and crucial cargo and medical supplies is not enough for the airline to survive the storm,” a source privy to the negotiations told MaltaToday.

Yet unions are still resisting the salary cuts, despite even the Air Malta chairman, CEO and other chief officers took drastic cuts in salaries and allowances. An internal memo from CEO Clifford Chetcuti said management was taking its cue from ministers who had renounced a month’s salary as a gesture of support to employers and workers facing hardship.

“In the current circumstances, the company is doing what it can to protect its future, and also to safeguard its employees. It is a difficult situation everyone has to understand and cushion a part of it to help the airline navigate through this storm,” Chetcuti wrote.

Similar issues are being faced by legacy carriers like Lufthansa, which had 90% of its fleet grounded, followed by British Airways which has furloughed over 30,000 workers as the aviation industry battles its worst crisis in history.