TAP refuses plenary to pilots that would affect 120 flights
"Holding a plenary assembly of pilots in the terms sought by the SPAC's Trade Union Committee would be apt to cause unbearable damage to the company," TAP said.
TAP’s executive committee has refused to hold a plenary meeting called by the Civil Aviation Pilots Union (SPAC) for next Friday morning, claiming that the meeting does not comply with legal precepts and will affect around 120 flights.
SPAC on Wednesday sent out a call for a TAP Pilots’ meeting for June 24, starting at 7.30am and ending at 10.30am, to be held inside the airline’s cafeteria. “It is estimated that around 400 pilots will be present at such a meeting,” says the message to which ECO had access.
The airline’s board on Wednesday denied holding the meeting in a response to SPAC’s Trade Union Committee: “In view of all these considerations, we must inform that TAP refuses, for all legal purposes, to hold a workers meeting, under the terms stated in your communication.”
The company argues that “holding a plenary meeting of pilots in the terms intended by SPAC’s Trade Union Committee and in the current circumstances would be apt to cause unbearable damage to the company and the country’s image, in a context of progressive, but still fragile, recovery of TAP, whose survival depends on state aid that presupposes scrupulous compliance with the restructuring plan.”
According to the executive committee’s accounts, the meeting would “compromise the entire operation for a multiple of that period, with potential impact on about 120 flights already scheduled and affecting about 20,000 passengers”.
TAP also claims that no proposal has been made to guarantee the company’s essential services, “a requirement that is reinforced in companies that operate in sectors aimed at meeting urgent social needs”, as is the case with the airline.
“Plenary meetings do not aim to, and cannot be used to, inflict damage or losses on TAP, whose operation and sustainability must be preserved,” the company said.
