They have up to 12noon on Friday to present their reactions. Meanwhile, company chairman Lawrence Zammit and chief executive officer Ernst Funk will be on call, ready to answer any query put forward by the unions as they consult with their members.

On Friday afternoon, the company’s board will meet shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting, necessary to approve the increased capitalisation of the company. Although linked, the two are not strictly speaking dependent upon each other. In other words, the government will still go ahead with its decision to inject Lm30 million into the company’s capital base whether the unions accept the pact or not. A negative response by the unions will however put the whole rescue operation in jeopardy.

GWU section secretary Manwel Zammit told l-orizzont the union will be discussing the pact at all levels.

Details about the pact, but not its contents, were revealed at a press conference on Wednesday by Minister for Investments and IT Austin Gatt.

It contains a preamble that is common to all parties, then four schedules which contain the core of each union’s collective agreement; and finally a fifth schedule which lists the government’s commitment to cut down on administrative costs over the next months.

The preamble contains issues discussed between the government and the unions over the past weeks. In some cases, the government took on board what the unions suggested, on others the government went ahead although aware of the unions’ opposition.

The preamble includes the following points:

Timeframe: The government initially wanted the whole pact to cover six years. The unions objected to this since it would mean there would be no wage increases for six years. So the government came up with a formula: if a profit is registered after the fourth year the company will give staff increments.

Job guarantees. Some wanted the government to guarantee jobs at Air Malta. There can be no cast-iron guarantees in today’s world, Dr Gatt said, but the government maintains that unless something extraordinary takes place, and as long as the Company Pact is fully implemented, there will be no redundancies.

Voluntary retirement schemes: the unions wanted the company to offer these to its employees, similar to what had been offered to dockyard workers and other people. The government will look into this together with the unions over the coming months.

The unions will monitor what the company is doing. At first, the government wanted the monitoring done by the worker director, but it transpired that the unions did not agree with this. In line with the recent Industrial Relations Act, there will now be a work council at Air Malta so that the unions can monitor what is happening in the company.

Wages: The unions wanted the employees’ take home pay to be retained. The government said it can only safeguard the basic pay, not the additional allowances, which have been taken for granted, such as overtime and other allowances. The government contends that the basic pay at Air Malta is already better than that of comparative jobs in the public sector. For instance, a cleaner employed with the public service gets Lm3,762 but Lm5,994 at Air Malta. A driver at Air Malta gets Lm1,800 more than a driver in the public service. A principal in the civil service gets Lm6,900 while a manager at the airline gets Lm8,100.

The four schedules contain the nitty-gritty of the different collective agreements. Basically, the government wants more and more flexibility within the airline. It also wants to increase productivity.

The fifth schedule contains the airline’s commitment to curb administrative expenses. In fact, Lm3.7 million will be saved over a three-year period.

Concluding his presentation, Dr Gatt repeated that in its present state, Air Malta is not sustainable. It operates in the international area where all other airlines have been engaged in restructuring. The draft Company Pact is an attempt to avoid what has been happening elsewhere to happen here. Elsewhere, airlines have collapsed and thousands have lost their jobs.

The draft pact is based on one important assumption: that Air Malta can return to profitability.

Dr Gatt also replied to some thorny questions:

Temporary workers: If the airline is in such dire straits, he was asked, why did it recently engage 140 loaders on a part-time basis? Dr Gatt replied he had already answered this in Parliament (PQ 3750): The airline has always taken on temporary workers at the beginning of the summer season since it own staff would not be able to handle the amount of flights that take place, not even through the reduction in cabin crew which is also part of the pact.

Discounts: Dr Gatt was asked why the government does not stop the free flights the airline gives it. Dr Gatt replied that all flights are booked with Air Malta and the government is given a discount. Had this discount not been made, the government could have booked available seats on other airlines.

Lm10 flights at election time: Dr Gatt nimbly sidestepped this question by asserting that this was introduced by a Labour government.

CEO’s package: Dr Gatt replied that the CEO’s package is guaranteed just as much as all other salaries from top to bottom are guaranteed. With regard to details of Mr Funk’s package, Dr Gatt referred questioners to a parliamentary reply (PQ 3537) which

gave details of Mr Funk’s package. He has the same package, Dr

Gatt added, as the chief executive

at the Malta Shipyards, who was recruited by a Labour government.