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GWU slams ‘scare-campaign’ targeting Air Malta workers
General Workers’ Union slams media reports casting doubt on Air Malta staff absorption by government as “campaign of fear.”
The GWU deplored what it described as “a campaign of fear that seems to be gaining momentum with the intention of demoralising Air Malta workers.”
The GWU said the fear campaign aimed to push workers into taking decisions against their will, "at a crucial and delicate time which will affect their employment and income.”
“Reports in the media yesterday quoted European Commission officials who said that Air Malta’s restructuring will not make it possible for the airline to retain its workforce, while also casting doubt over whether government will be able to absorb these workers,” the GWU said.
The union said the report suggested that some 600 employees could see their employment ending in the Air Malta restructuring process over the coming months.
The GWU said that such a declaration did no good during the ongoing discussions, and could be "intended to scare and demoralise the workers and into resorting to early retirement schemes against their will.”
The union added that it was not opposed to early retirement schemes as long as they are voluntary and freely offer workers the opportunity to choose what is best for them.
The GWU appealed to all Air Malta workers to remain strong and united, “and to now allow such tactics to distract or demoralise them.”
In the meantime, the GWU called a meeting which will be held on Tuesday afternoon (5:30pm) in its HQ in Valletta, which will discuss the situation the beleaguered airline finds itself in presently.
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If I was the Union, I will keep my eyes wide open, because all the managements always use the same system. When they want to implement a drastic measure, the first thing they do is infiltrate the proposals through the third or forth parties. Like the media, or just using the hearsay in the corridors.This way they will stabilizes the workers, and make them ready to hear the bad news.
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It is really a pity, for such a great airline to arrive in this situation. Could it be management to blame instead of the 600 innocent employees. They might be fooling around with figures so neither the so called minister might know about it (altough he is maltese himself) nor the new expensive foreigners. Could it be that such contracts are making the situation worst instead of better ? I think it would be wiser to look through all the papers, correct all mistakes before removing 600 employees. I still do think that a maltese is cheaper and is able to take better decisions. Good luck Airmalta employees.
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It seems that the issue of over manning is not the only issue affecting the costs of Air Malta. The public simply dose not know what measures are being taken to stabilise the Airline except that about six hundred workers are to be laid off. If the things mentioned here about the operation of the Air line are not being put right or rebutted if not true, then the obvious conclusion or perception is that the Government is not willing to put things right in Air Malta. In the past the National Airline had been sacrificed to indirectly subsidise the private Hotel Industry by aiding the low cost carriers to move in the Maltese economy and neutralising Air Malta’s growth. The benefits accrued to Private Hotels all over Malta and Gozo. However when the National Airline announced some months ago announced that it was reducing some flights on the UK routes, the MHRA was quick to jump. This Government is not for running public enterprises and this is no secret. There are rumours that Arriva which is now going to operate in Malta very shortly might also be interested in acquiring the ailing Airline. This would be a grave mistake as shareholding in a Strategic company should be spread out as much as possible and kept under Maltese control.
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The scandalous thing about all this affair is that "strange" things are still happening in the airline, contributing to further deteriorating the situation.
1. when last summer Airmalta registered a record loss, why was the same schedule operated this summer ?
2. Why was confirmed superfluous capacity, on Gatwick for example, removed, and in less than a month reinstated ?
3. why haven't the current contracts with suppliers, some of them just incredible, not been revised ? would you believe that we are still seeing gardeners being hired to take care of a piece of field ?
4. why wasn't a fuel surcharge introduced these last few weeks, when fuel shot up and all european airlines included it ?
5. why is nothing being done to maximize cargo revenue ?
i can go on and on but it appears that the intention is specifically to ruin the company and sell it for peanuts to some friend of firends.
6. why is next winter being programmed with 10 aircrafts, when logic says that no more than 8 can be viable? the MHRA has again triumphed wiht the MTA, to the detriment of the airline as usual ?
If that is the case, they are doing an excellent job.
