TAP’s CEO believes it is still possible to reach agreement with workers

TAP’s CEO believes it is still possible to reach an agreement with the workers and thus avoid redundancies. In an interview with RTP, Ramiro Sequeira also said that the scenario of the airline going bankrupt was never on the table.

“We decided to extend the deadline for closing the voluntary measures that ended on the 14th. We have ten more days, because we understood people needed more time.” Ramiro Sequeira hopes with this extension it will be “possible” to reach the number of departures without redundancies. “But it depends on the outcome of the voluntary measures and the very important phase of reaching an agreement with workers who have to leave,” he added.

The TAP restructuring plan – whose proposal is still being evaluated by the European Commission – implies a 1.4 billion euros cut in wages. The unions negotiated with the management alternatives to reduce redundancies, which resulted in a series of voluntary measures: settlement agreement, early retirement, pre-retirement, part-time job and unpaid leave.

Sequeira also said that bankruptcy was never on the table. “No. From the moment I took on this position, as is well known, we focused 100% of our energies on making a plan – which had a deadline to be delivered to Brussels which was 10 December – and with everyone’s help, we managed to do it. The CEO explained that now the company is facing a “new phase”, “no less important” which is, “first, the plan’s approval and then its implementation.”