Government mulls postponing Air Malta’s downsizing

The government is considering postponing the downsizing of Air Malta to after the general election to mitigate any political fall-out from the deal which will see the carrier team up with Alitalia. 

After reaching an agreement with the unions representing pilots and cabin crew, Air Malta is currently holding meetings with engineers in an effort to close negotiations with all sections.  

Once an agreement is ironed out with the engineers, this would effectively mean that all sections have accepted cuts in staff complement.  

Nonetheless the government appears to be still unclear whether retirement schemes should come into effect at once or at a later date.  

There appears to be two schools of thought within government ranks, one which favours unleashing staff reduction at once and one that argues that the retirement scheme will lead to resentment and a discontent among workers and should wait until after the election.

Earlier this year, the government signed a memorandum of understanding with Alitalia, in a deal that will see the Italian airline acquire a 49% shareholding in Air Malta. 

However, the details of the strategic partnership deal – including how many jobs must be shed – remain unknown.

On Monday, the government announced that all Air Malta employees represented by the General Workers Union were guaranteed their jobs, as well as their take-home pay, even once the sale to Alitalia goes through.

It is thought that although the airline has reached an agreement with the unions representing the majority of workers, and gave assurances that no workers will be removed, the airline is offering early retirement schemes to a host of workers. 

Following protracted negotiations with the Union of Cabin Crew none of Air Malta’s 250 cabin crew will be sacked, but all of them will be offered a strictly voluntary retirement scheme. 

MaltaToday revealed on Sunday that the retirement scheme for pilots and cabin crew has been tagged at some €6 million. Those cabin crew who want to keep working under their current conditions will be offered a job at another government department.

This is not the first exercise of its kind for the national airline. In 2012, over 500 Air Malta employees applied for the company’s early retirement and voluntary redundancy schemes. 

While most opted for an early retirement scheme, some 50 employees had applied for alternative jobs within the public sector.