Malta Air never wanted to reach an agreement to prevent redundancies, GWU says

Malta Air would not guarantee no redundancies despite workers being forced to accept a pay reduction, the General Workers Union said as it rejected the airline’s claims.

The union was reacting to Malta Air’s statement on Tuesday that it failed to reach an emergency agreement, resulting in the loss of 40 cabin crew jobs in January.

The airline said the agreement would have included “modest pay cuts (to be restored over four years)”, along with a minimum pay guarantee, and a three-year review.

However, the union said that the company was not willing to guarantee no redundancies throughout the period and the agreement put forward also included a salary scale lower than that established by law.

The GWU said it tried to work together with Malta Air to save jobs but the company wanted to repeal an existing collective agreement and introduce a new one backdated to June for a full four years.

Workers would be forced to accept a 10% reduction in their overall income, on the understanding that it would slowly return between 2022 and July 2024.

“The GWU demanded that if workers are required to make this sacrifice then during this period, there will be no redundancies,” the union said.

The union said that Malta Air said that while it would do everything possible for there to be no dismissal, it could not give a guarantee.

“During meetings, the company stressed that that was its final position and either the workers accept or continue with the redundancies,” the GWU said.

The union said on Monday it sent the documents to all its members, 91% of Malta Air employees, for their approval. “Employees had one voice, and 85% of members voted against cancelling the agreement in force, and signing another agreement that would drastically reduce their revenue and for so long,” the union said.

The GWU said it was committed to continuing the discussions with Malta Air, and that if the airline wanted to save these jobs, then it should sit around a table without the need for imposition and threats on either workers or those who are protecting their interests.

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