Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/163731
News maltatoday, SUNDAY, 1 SEPTEMBER 2013 Air Malta pilots hit out at CEO Peter Davies, calling claims 'pathetic' THE Air Malta pilots' union, ALPA, denied reports which stated that all pilots get €750 for every leave day cancelled by the airline. In MaltaToday's report, published on Sunday, 25 August, the airline said that its pilots were paid tens of thousands of euros during peak months if the airline has to reduce just one day of leave to keep pilots working. With the pilots' union demanding an increase in cockpit staffing, Air Malta's Chief Executive, Peter Davies, vowed to take on the union and stop "a mentality where they think Air Malta is their private flying club". However, in a statement issued by ALPA's executive committee, the pilots said the report "is at best totally misleading, and at worst factually wrong". They added that Davies's claim that pilots treated the airline as their own club was offensive and "pathetic". The pilots also pointed out that they "were the only group of people who in the past forked out money in order to save the airline". Davies was complaining about the Collective Agreement he himself negotiated and signed back in October 2012, the pilots' union said. "At the time, Air Malta, with Peter Davies at the helm, said that 'the agreement, which was negotiated within the same parameters as other agreements reached with the other unions, meets the requirements of the restructuring plan and is in line with the financial cost constraints of the company'," ALPA said. The pilots expressed their surprise at Davies's comments, given the agree- ment was only signed 10 months ago. "Surprisingly enough, ten months down the line, the same CEO feels and explicitly expresses his concern that the Collective Agreement is a liability to the company." On the €750 payment granted to pilots for every leave day cancelled by the airline, ALPA said, "The company's management goes so far as to say that the company incurs a penalty of €750 per pilot for every time it cancels a day's leave. The Collective Agreement states that prior to cancelling any leave, which was initially approved by the company, the crew must have worked over and above the normal parameters as prescribed in the Collective Agreement. In essence, it means that pilots have three offdays less than the stipulated number of off-days in the Collective Agreement during the particular month." The union added that while custom mandates that rest periods and leave must be distributed evenly throughout the year, Air Malta successfully negotiated with ALPA that certain blocks be spread over the year, so that Air Malta would have leeway in the that the company can move the offdays around as it deems fit for the smooth running of the company, especially in the peak season. In fact, the ALPA Collective Agreement grants pilots the possibility to work up to six days 23 hours on and one day off," the union explained. In last week's report, the airline's management explained that according to the pilots' Collective Agreement, Air Malta ends up paying €750 to each of its 110 pilots if it has to strike one day of leave due to a need for pilots during busy months. The airline said that it has paid up to €82,000 in one peak month alone, as a result of this liability. However the pilots' union retorted that Air Malta was trying to give the wrong impression to the public "by implying that pilots have longer offdays than anyone else, when in fact it may well be the contrary. A person who works office hours stops working at 5pm on Friday and starts again at 8am on Monday, thus availing himself of two off-days worth 63 hours. An Air Malta pilot can work till 23:59 on Friday and report for work at 7am on Monday, thus availing himself of two off-days worth 55 hours. That means a pilot's two days off may actually be eight hours less than those of an office worker." distribution of leave during the peak flying periods. They noted that Air Malta pilots are usually required to fill in their leave requests before the start of the financial year, but Air Malta need only approve the leave three months in advance. Pilots are entitled to the same number of off-days SEE MORE as any other employee, Pilots each get €750 when Air Malta which stands at an average cancels leave day of two off-days per week, http://tinyurl.com/op6zd7b ALPA said. "The only difference is @