The airline pilots’ union, ALPA, has filed a Judicial Protest in the First Hall of the Civil Court in order to hold the Government of Malta responsible for its actions, as well as those of its wholly-owned company, Malta Air Travel Limited which is now operating under the name ‘Malta Med Air’.

ALPA said it filed the protest following the recruitment, “under precarious conditions,” of members of the Association who have recently been made redundant by Air Malta.

“Such recruitment is being conducted by Brookfield Aviation International Limited, a recruitment/placement agency registered in the UK, notwithstanding that such work force is required by Malta Med Air,” ALPA said.

“Pilots, whose employment was terminated by Air Malta are being offered work in a self-employed capacity for a sixmonth period. These precarious atypical employment arrangements have been conjured up in an attempt at avoiding statutory guarantees available to employees proper, such as those relating to collective bargaining rights and basic employment guarantees, including annual vacation leave, sickness benefits and maternity leave. These tri-partite ‘fake self-employment’ arrangements also pose clear safety risks to pilots operating under such disproportionate pressure.”

The European Cockpit Association (ECA) has also voiced its concerns relating to the illegality of such arrangements and has called on the Government of Malta to desist from pursuing this course of action.

Accordingly, ALPA has called on the Government of Malta to honor and abide by its contractual obligation to provide the members of our Association with work within the Maltese territory under the conditions contained in the Collective Agreement currently in force, which is set to expire at the end of the year 2022.

This contractual undertaking was signed by ex-Minister for Tourism, Konrad Mizzi, acting on behalf of the Government of Malta, on 26th January 2018, and was instrumental to the signing of the said Collective Agreement on the very same day, it said.

ALPA has also provided formal notice of its intention to take the necessary measures in order to safeguard its members’ contractual rights, including the filing of judicial proceedings against the Government of Malta.