The Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) said this morning that it “strongly deplored evident attempts by Air Malta to suppress and stop outright the National Airline Pilots from expressing their views.”
It said that the injunction filed by Air Malta in the Maltese courts to ask for the issue of a prohibitory injunction against ALPA “constitutes a clear threat to the right of free association of workers, as well as to their entitlement to safeguard as a last option these rights by resorting to industrial action. A right which is upheld not only by the Maltese Laws but also by International Law and whereby workers’ interests are protected and deemed unalienable.”
The pilots’ union is currently locked in dispute with the national airline over better pay and conditions. ALPA says the last collective agreement expired more than six months ago but the airline, which is going through restructuring and is seeking partnership with Alitalia, says this is not the time for such antics.
Captain Dominic Azzopardi, President of ALPA-Malta
“ALPA would also like to express its disapproval to the contents of a local newspaper article issued under the pen of Air Malta Chairperson Ms Maria Micallef since it considers this as an unreasonable attack on ALPA Pilots. Furthermore the content of this article verges on the malicious, is poles away from the truth and does not present facts in an objective manner.
At the foremost is the fact that the quoted value of financial claims made by ALPA do not portray the truth, appear to have been relayed by stealth to the media, with the ultimate intention of alienating public opinion against Air Malta pilots.”
Pilots’ track record better than management’s
“Air Malta pilots have long been held in high esteem in terms of the standards of work ethic and a track history with a high security record level which speaks for itself. On the other hand ALPA is of the opinion that the same cannot be said about the performance of the Management of Air Malta, which is burdened with a history of erroneous business decisions amongst which Management Staff emoluments which run into thousands of Euros and which have all contributed to bringing the National Airline to the precarious state that it is today.
Maria Micallef, Air Malta Chairperson
Amongst these unwise business decisions, ALPA would highlight the reduction by Air Malta of its aircraft fleet which in itself resulted in an immediate lowering of Air Malta’s market share. ALPA would like to state that should Air Malta truly embrace transparency, it should proceed to publish without any further delay the remuneration packages of its senior management following which the general public would be in a better position to evaluate the dispute on facts rather than plain conjecture.
The members of ALPA are disappointed and pre-occupied at the manner its negotiations with Air Malta have been handled. Even more now that confidential documentation such as the minutes of these meetings, as yet unapproved by ALPA have been made public and also before the negotiations have been amicably concluded. ALPA would like to assert that its members are intent on not succumbing to pressures and threats exerted by Air Malta and in pursuit of these aims shall be contesting this prohibitory injunction in the Maltese courts on the 22nd July 2016 with the aim of showing those attempting to silence ALPA that this is not tenable in a democratic society.
In view of the foregoing reasons, finally ALPA would like to declare that it has lost its trust in the current management of Air Malta.”