That Domenic Azzopardi and his colleagues make an average of €65,000 a year is not an issue. They deserve every penny and probably more. What is wrong is that it is he who is leading the troops in a strike which will achieve nothing and cause mayhem at a very delicate moment. A pilot is doing his utmost to expedite the crash Air Malta.
Incidentally, the last time we saw Domenic Azzopardi in public was last year on the GWU truck in Valletta. He was protesting against the water and electricity bills. In other words, a man who earns around €65,000 year was protesting to have workers earning a third of his wage to subsidise the water and electricity consumed by his jacuzzi.
Incidentally, the last time we saw Domenic Azzopardi in public was last year on the GWU truck in Valletta. He was protesting against the water and electricity bills. In other words, a man who earns around €65,000 year was protesting to have workers earning a third of his wage to subsidise the water and electricity consumed by his jacuzzi.
But let us return to his current foray in public life. Domenic Azzopardi's mid-July strike is exactly the opposite of what Air Malta workers and the rest of the country needs. It is not just that a strike - forgive the pun - at the heart of a moribund company is perverse in and of itself. It is not even that if Air Malta stalls at the peak of the high season, the entire tourism industry could stall with it. The real damage would be that this country would be sending the worst possible message beyond our shores.
That is why everyone who has a stake in this matter and his mother is saying, elegantly and not so elegantly, that what Domenic Azzopardi and his colleagues are about to do is sheer madness. The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, the Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry, the government and others are all frantically swinging from the rope ringing alarm bells.
A Taliban nutcase believes that after he dies on a suicide mission there will be 72 virgins waiting for him in heaven, all eager for him to make them women. Domenic Azzopardi is not so stupid. He knows that there will be no virgins sauntering his way if Air Malta crashes. But he's not worried: the crash will not end his career. It is Tony Zarb who is thinking like a Taliban, oggling pie in the sky virgins instead of working responsibly to protect the livelihood of the men and women he represents.
14 comments:
I think that the point that ALPA is making is that KM is moribund not because of a flawed business model but because over the years since its inception the main shareholder used KM for political mileage. Lately we see how MIA sucked dry KM with un-economic charges which I am such no stupid would accept unless he has an ulterior motive e.g. renting a briefing room for EUR300k! AlPA reached the end of its tether and it called for drastic concrete action, possibly too late in the day.
Air Malta like any other commercial operation should be privatized asap. Its landing slots in LHR and other airports are worth more then the sum total of the assets held locally!
Along with Air Malta we should privatise Enemalta, University and BOV. We should also break up MIA's monopoly by offering private operators the change to offer terminal facilities in the various parks at MIA.
A quick question: as shareholders of Air Malta (the Gov of Malta i.e. the people of Malta) can we democratically tell them NO WAY?! Can't the majority stop this nonsense and forbid a bunch of pilots from jeopardising the jobs of many?
As you said, they will not find it hard to find another job, but others might. This is a crime against the workers!
I read your blog with interest and although I have nothing whatsoever to do with Airmalta, except that I am/was a client, I feel that yes the timing for a strike is off and its timing precarious BUT strikes do usually take place when things go bad ... I have never heard of people protesting or striking when conditions are good or have improved!!
You say pilots will find new jobs at the drop of a hat anywhere around the globe... sure this is true BUT why should they?? Why can't they work in their own country?? Why should they move to another country just to do their job? What about their families and the life they live here in Malta.
In my opinion always, this is not about Mr Azzopardi or Mr Zarb, this is about management by crisis, the famous 'too little too late' and all the 'u iva' attitude we Maltese take. Much as yes there will be great repercussions if the strike does take place, I still feel WE Maltese need to pull up our socks and act when we feel that injustice has been done!
Maybe this is the first step?
Cannot the Air Malta restructuring committee commit to a set time frame with ALPA in which the major issues with MIA and others could be seen to?
I am sure that with a structured timeframe acceptible to both parties ALPA would feel more comfortable and reconsider their planned strike action
How many of the Pilots are doing office work?
Well said Anson. It seems that the pilots are being fueled to strike also by other unions inside AirMalta. It seems others will be agreeing to the Pilots striking yet they wont strike themselves. I believe that other air malta unions should not be giving their full support as this is only going to push the Pilots to even harsher steps. This is soley my opinion....
What is madness from a workers perspective is that the government is laying off people after a million promises that they are needed because of the importance to the economy that they are (as quoted by the prime minister in the personalised letter sent to each and every Air Malta employee) without any change to the service contracts that have bled Air Malta dry.
All the workers got was a promise that first they will be layed off and the contracts will be reviewed. No amount of reviewing the contracts will bring about any change. The henchmen will still continue to make their millions from the backs of honest wage earning full tax paying citizens. What is needed is full contract changing before any one worker is made redundant or forced into immigration.
This is what is the problem is, the country has come full circle from the 1970s to today. Workers are loosing their rights with the blessing of the current administration which has become entrenched and a slave to a few rich individuals/corporations. What do they care if people lose their jobs and have their lifestyles seriously affected as long as they continue to pile the millions.
Off course that a strike causes harm, to the economy in general and also to the strikers, but when is the last time that pilots stopped their services in Malta?
A lot is at stake here. This is where serious investigative journalism comes into play, instead of the dilettantism that we are handed day in day out, or else it is a matter of our media having its own agenda because if is financed by these same leeches bleeding Air Malta/the whole country dry.
Come on Lou show us what a pro you are and delve a bit into what is really going on. To be really fair to the pilots, when do we expect them to strike in the low winter months?
Lou,
Of course you twist facts to suit your own agenda. Pilots are not striking because of reforms but because of the LACK OF THEM. Check what they have to say about the matter before you blather about things.
Oh and protesting against utility bills had nothing to so with a jacuzzi but it was an act of solidarity. The type you'd be applauding had it suited you.
I think this article is totally missing the woods for the trees.
The strike is not a whim thought out and scribbled on a paper at the back of a pub, like a moribond song.
The 65K you mention a couple of times and the fact that Mr.Azzopardi, president of ALPA, represented ALPA who is a member of the forum of unions protesting against the hikes in electricity gives no relevance to your argument.
I suggest you delve a bit deeper and do your research.
Protests and strikes are the voice of the people when things go drastically wrong.
Money has nothing to do with it.
More the correction of things that are so awry that AirMalta might disappear for ever if certain things are implemented.
I think the pilots will find a much higher paying job, elsewhere, at the cost of leaving the country, a forced exile, which can be avoided with a ground up approach they are proposing.
Your article is disparaging Mr. Bondi.
Have you heard of the word 'solidarity'. I'll explain what that is. It is a way of supporting and showing sympathy for other people. That was the case of Mr. Domenic Azzopardi's presence at the GWU protest against the utility bills.
And once again Mr. Azzopardi is sticking to his principles so that Air Malta's employees would not be abused and take for a ride from the cartel bleeding Air Malta dry.
As far as I know pilots taking this action are not going to benefit personally from any monetary or other benefits. They are sticking their neck out on behalf of everyone at Air Malta to push the establishment into action after a 8 month snooze.
If the establishment had real care for the island, the threat of a strike would not be 2 weeks old already. Loving parents take care of their own especially when they are in distress.
Now real gentlemen will get the point, but the Knight of Malta were always a few against the many.
Air Malta pilots are striking to put an end to the debilitating contracts that are in place as we speak which are killing the company, and do nothing except facilitate the milking of Air Malta's money by certain people on the outside.
Air Malta pilots are doing this because they believe that if these contracts are left in place, then no amount of so-called restructuring will save the airline.
Eventually it will collapse - and maybe that is the intention and the wish of this govt and its friends.
Why don't you all ask the other Air Malta workers what they think of this strike, i am one of those and in my opinion, the pilots should for at least once care for the other workers that for 8 years had their wage freezed. This strike will put as all at Hal-Far.
The perversity of the pilots’ threatened strike lies in its timing – now that a serious attempt at restructuring is in the offing – whether or not ALPA agrees with the plans – and now that the restructuring team seems to be taking the bull by the horns and opening discussions with MIA and other suppliers. The pilots’ actions are causing immense distress to its passengers who are due to travel on the affected days and is also already causing immeasurable harm to Air Malta during what should be one of its best months, even if it is called off at the last minute, because people traveling in the next few days would either decide to go elsewhere or to avoid Air Malta flights. What irks ALPA is the fact that a number of pilots are among the 500+ planned redundancies.
Dear Julie,
Are you aware of any union that would strike because people who are not its members are being made redundant? If you do, kindly post it here as I would love to know which union this is!
The Pilots want a stop the abusers who are milking the Company dry and now these very same people are telling us that the only solution is to trim the fleet and employees.
At this point in time all recognised Air Malta Unions realise they need each other’s support. Funnily enough UHM, which is not recognised within Air Malta but still has an odd 400 Air Malta members, did not participate in the demonstration.
Also, the very same ‘klikka’ persuaded a group of 62 Air Malta employees to officially declare that they would hold pilots responsible for damages resulting from their actions. The 62 employees include certain illustrious people who have been enjoying their cushy jobs for decades, but decided to let their master pull their strings.
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