TAP repudiates attacks on its competence

Even before a silent march by several unions to protest against TAP began in Lisbon, the airline’s executive committee released a statement this Tuesday morning repudiating the attacks on its credibility and accuses the workers’ unions of presenting false information.

“The TAP executive committee regrets and repudiates the constant attempt to attack its credibility and competence, the judgements of intentions and the increasingly frequent presentation of random ‘factoids’, deliberately taken out of context, distorted and even, in some cases, completely false, which some unions constantly bombard the media with,” the statement said.

For the first time, pilots, cabin crew and aircraft maintenance technicians are taking part in a joint protest this Tuesday morning in the Portuguese capital. The protest was organised by the National Union of Civil Aviation Flight Personnel (SNPVAC), Civil Aviation Pilots Union (SPAC) and the Aircraft Maintenance Technicians Union (SITEMA).

The last few months have been marked by growing tension between TAP and the unions. These organisations are contesting the pay cuts being maintained in the face of the company’s financial recovery, which is between 80% and 90% of what it was in 2019. They have also criticised management decisions, including the use of aircraft under ACMI (aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance) and the outsourcing of maintenance services.

TAP’s executive committee says it will be the company’s financial statement that will speak for its work. “The management of any company is evaluated not by unions’ press releases, but by the company’s results, and these results, contrary to the claims produced by some unions, are audited, verified and validated by the political tutelage and the various stakeholders.”

The air carrier will report its Q2 and H1 results on August 23.

In the statement released this morning, TAP recalled that the unions agreed to 25% pay cuts, “fulfilling its role of defending the workers and their jobs,” thus making a “a commitment that will take effect until 2025, the year from which, following the restructuring plan, TAP will finally be in a position to replace wages in full.”

“Until then, the signed agreements cannot be ignored, nor would the company’s survival be able to resist if that happened, as can easily be understood,” it explains.

TAP also says it remains available to negotiate with the unions, but that it “does not dialogue with the unions through press releases or public statements that could generate news headlines.”