Angola: Flag carrier airline TAAG pilots begin ten-day strike over pay

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Angola: Flag carrier airline TAAG pilots begin ten-day strike over pay

3:04 CAT | 07 Oct 2022

File photo: Lusa

The pilots of TAAG, the Angolan flag carrier airline, went on strike on Friday until the 17th of this month due to the lack of consensus between the parties, particularly on the issue of pay.

Speaking to Portuguese news agency Lusa, the leader of the pilots’ union, Miguel Prata, said that the level of participation was 100 percent, with members demonstrating at Luanda’s international airport.

Miguel Prata said that the eight-point set of demands was delivered in June of this year, and since then the parties have been at the negotiating table several times, focusing only on the first point, about the wage readjustment, without reaching an agreement.

“There are two moments here that are worth highlighting: we never asked for a salary increase, we asked for a pay adjustment, we wanted to be paid differently. TAAG decided to make an increase – it is logical that our readjustment, this also has to be said, of the form of payment would imply an increase in payment, but we only asked for this based on the information we received from the company that we would work a lot”, he said.

According to Miguel Prata, what the affiliates, a total of 114 pilots, want is “to change the base salary”.

“We have a base salary and variable hours. We wanted to change this form of payment and increase the base salary to have stability. We tried to establish bridges, to bring positions closer together, and there came a point that TAAG said it was impossible,” he said.

The union member stressed that, based on the information about the company, the employer’s response is not acceptable.

“Based on the information about the company, the people working here think it is possible, although the management says no, so we are in this impasse. To give you an idea, there are tickets that TAAG charges that are higher than the pilots work, we think it’s a contradiction”, he said.

Miguel Prata stressed that the strike is total, stressing that the Strike Law does not allow minimum services in this case, “unless there are disasters or military support, which is not the case”.

“In fact, the Strike Law itself does not provide for substitution and TAAG is now running into irregularities, illegalities. Today there was already one plane that left for Cabinda province, but we are going to file an injunction to restore legality because Angola is a country with laws and the laws must be obeyed. The strike law does not provide for the replacement of strikers, therefore we cannot understand how the aviation authorities foresee that there will be this replacement,” he said.

This week, the parties met from Monday until Thursday, but did not reach an agreement, which is why, the leader of the Angolan pilots’ union added, the strike was “the last resort”.

Source: Lusa