TAP owes crews more than €12M, says Union

The National Civil Aviation Flight Staff Union (SNPVAC), which has scheduled a strike for 8 and 9 December, said on Thursday that TAP owes crew members more than €12 million.

“The management claims that the ‘gains’ that crew members would have with this proposal would be around €8 million. This is where the big misunderstanding arises. We’re not talking about compromises. This is something that belongs to the crew and that the company unilaterally withdrew”, the SNPVAC began by saying in a statement sent to members, to which Lusa had access.

At issue are the statements made on Wednesday by the airline’s CEO, Christine Ourmières-Widener, about the decision to cancel 360 flights on the days when a cabin crew strike is planned, which will represent a loss of revenue of €8 million, a figure that would be equivalent to what the crew would earn with the company agreement proposal that TAP has put on the negotiating table.

“In reality, it is not €8 million, but constant defaults amounting to more than €12 million that the company owes the crew members,” the union points out.

The SNPVAC said that the statements made by the CDEO constitute “one of the greatest attacks on the class”, “an unspeakable and unprecedented exposure”, and an “attempt of pressure and finger pointing” made by the company “shamefully, with the remaining workers of the group and public opinion”.

“The direction of the SNPVAC is not indifferent to this victimisation campaign and reminds the management that it was the company that decided the end of negotiations, with ultimatums on the table”, it stresses.

The union met with TAP on 15 and 16 November as part of the negotiations of the new company agreement, where it said it had defined “14 fundamental points” so that it could take a possible strike call-off to its members for consideration.

Among these is negotiating a new agreement based on the current one, “substantially improved”, with which, according to the union, TAP disagrees.

Also part of the union’s demands are the adjustment of per diems, salary updates, or the hiring of 11 crew members who have overstayed their seniority, and “the company has accepted the hiring of these crew members with the obligation of the SNPVAC to present the proposal to members by 22 November”, something that the union says is “impossible to execute statutorily”.

“Who decides the future deadlines are the crew members. We demand respect. On 6 [of December], we’ll have another general meeting, and we hope to transmit an unequivocal agreementamong all of us”, the SNPVAC concluded.