European Cockpit Association demands recall of dismissal of 69 Air Malta pilots

The dismissal and subsequent “bogus self-employment” of Maltese pilots was illegitimate and must be annulled, the European Cockpit Association (ECA) said. 

The ECA, which represents over 40,000 pilots in Europe, claimed an attempt by the Maltese government of undermining Air Malta pilots by flying another nationally-owned airline, Malta MedAir, was promoting “precarious atypical aircrew employment.” 

“The treatment of Air Malta’s pilots is a stark example of COVID-19 being used as an excuse to undermine worker’s rights, and must not be tolerated,” ECA CA President Jon Horne said. 

At the beginning of June, Air Malta said it was going ahead with the redundancies of 69 pilots after talks with the union failed. The company said that talks with ALPA, the airline’s pilot union, on measures to avoid redundancies in order to safeguard its ongoing sustainability and viability, failed. 

READ ALSO: Air Malta makes 69 pilots redundant after talks with union fail 

Horne accused Malta of becoming “a flag of convenience and sponsoring social engineering through precarious broker-agency set-ups, bogus self-employment”. 

“COVID-19 is hitting workers across Europe very hard. Aviation is one of the sectors that suffer most. We urge the Maltese Government to resolve the issues with Air Malta, using EU funds and any other means available, in order to provide fair support for the duration of the crisis. We also call on the Government of Malta to ensure that the rights of workers, including pilots, are respected and that no opportunistic behaviour threatening social sustainability is allowed,” he said. 

The ECA said Air Malta had not conducted a proper consultation process as required by EU legislation, and that jobs were replaced by “bogus” self-employed crews recruited by a UK agency following Air Malta’s decision to transfer charter operations to Malta MedAir. 

The association highlighted that in other jurisdictions such as the Netherlands, Spain and Belgium, judges have annulled the dismissals when employers have not respected statutory collective dismissal procedures. It cited that judges are obligated to respect the European transfer of undertaking provisions that forbid dismissals during transfers and guarantee the respect of employee rights enshrined in collective agreements. 

“It is not acceptable that the Maltese authorities themselves facilitate replacing direct employment with precarious atypical jobs via foreign broker agencies through self-employment,” ECA Secretary General Philip von Schöppenthau said.