Pilots’ union cancels six-day strike

In March 2010, the Union of Civil Aviation Pilots announced a six-day strike against the proposal of TAP Portugal to increase wages by 1.8% and the distribution of productivity gains. The other trade unions at TAP accepted the pay increase. After a period of controversy and public discontent, the union called off the strike following an agreement with TAP. The union accepted the 1.8% wage increase, but the distribution of productivity gains has been amended.

Pilots announce six-day strike over Easter

The Portuguese government decided to tackle the economic and financial crisis by offering moderate pay increases in public companies, thus setting a 1.8% limit on wage increases. Accordingly, the administration of the national airline TAP Portugal presented a pay increase of 1.8% to its employees, in the context of the revision of the company collective agreement (Acordo de empresa).

The Union of Civil Aviation Pilots (Sindicato dos Pilotos da Aviação Civil, SPAC) rejected the proposal, whereas all of the other seven trade unions representing TAP workers signed a protocol with TAP’s administration agreeing with the 1.8% wage increase. At the beginning of March 2010, negotiations between the TAP administration and SPAC reached an impasse. SPAC called a general assembly of its member pilots, which took place on 10 March 2010. At the meeting, the pilots voted in favour of a call for a six-day strike planned for 26–31 March over the Easter holiday period, on the grounds that ‘the proposal of the administration concerning compensation for productivity gains was insufficient, unbalanced and discriminatory for TAP pilots in relation to other workers.’ The motion in favour of the strike was passed by a majority of 70% of the pilots present at the general assembly.

Disagreement over distribution of productivity gains

According to SPAC, the pilots refused to sign the protocol with TAP because the wage increase should be negotiated taking into consideration productivity gains. SPAC considered that the TAP administration did not value the numerous concessions made by SPAC to reduce operational costs and increase the productivity of pilots. According to SPAC calculations, the changes in the provision of work already agreed with the company would generate productivity gains of €21 million. Therefore, the pilots argued that €10.5 million should be allocated to TAP employees, which would result in a wage increase of more than 10%, not counting the 1.8% on the table.

These calculations contrast with those of the TAP administration, which estimated the potential gains at €5 million, of which €2.5 million would be allocated to employees. In practice, the administration’s proposal would result in a wage increase of 5.4% for TAP pilots, adding to the 1.8% salary increase already agreed with the other workers.

Furthermore, SPAC highlighted that, unlike the wage levels of the other company employees, pilots’ wages did not increase in 2003. Moreover, pilots were not considered in the distribution of awards in 2007. On the other hand, SPAC emphasises that since 2001 pilots at the company have been giving up around €9 million a year by rescinding their credit for holidays and many more millions of euros as a result of the adoption of operational procedures that enable an effective reduction of costs on fuel consumption. According to SPAC, TAP’s administration did not correct the wage disadvantage between the company’s pilots and the pilots of other airlines in Europe, nor did it even compare wage levels to those of other airline operators based in Portugal, particularly low-cost operators.

Controversy over strike announcement

The decision by pilots to go on strike over the Easter period sparked strong controversy. The government and the TAP administration were concerned about the planned strike activity: a two-day strike by pilots in September 2009 led to the cancellation of more than 100 flights. The potential cost of the Easter strike for the company was estimated at around €30 million. Travel agencies, tour operators, hotels and families planning to travel at that time expressed their discontent with the dispute between the pilots and the TAP administration.

Union withdraws call for strike

On 23 March 2010, the leaders of SPAC decided to cancel the announced strike. A press release published on that day stated:

following the willingness shown by the administration of TAP to develop seriously and responsibly a negotiating process, which leads to the sharing of gains in productivity provided by the operating model proposed by pilots in the context of the revision of the company collective agreement, the leaders of SPAC decided to cancel the strike that was planned for the period between 26 and 31 March.

The strike annulment also resulted in a preliminary agreement between TAP and SPAC for safeguarding common interests. The strike, which would affect 150,000 passengers, was cancelled a few hours before it was due to take place.

According to the newspaper Público, the TAP administration did not bow to the trade union’s wage demand. SPAC eventually decided to call off the strike after receiving a guarantee of a distribution of productivity gains by the company closer to the union’s demand, but it did not achieve its desired wage increase. TAP issued a press release stating that ‘this agreement provides for a wage increase of 1.8%, which is equal to the amount agreed with all of the other trade unions representing TAP workers, and also the fair distribution of the productivity gains between the pilots and the company.’ The Executive Chair of TAP, Fernando Pinto, considered that common sense had prevailed and defined the agreement as ‘good for both sides’.

Maria da Paz Campos Lima, Dinâmia