SPAC pilots syndicate says “meagre profits” came at employees’ expense
Portugal’s Civil Aviation Pilots’ Union SPAC has accused TAP management of making its 2022 profit on the backs of workers.
“TAP’s meagre result last year was only achieved at the expense of salary cuts for workers, with pilots having contributed substantially to this, with a 45% salary cut in 2022. We highlight that these poor results do not even cover the value of what would be the annual salary without pilots’ pay cuts”, says a statement from the union sent to Lusa news agency today.
As happened last time TAP recorded a ‘profit’, perspective has come into the frame. SPAC insists “it was and continues to be the workers, and in particular the pilots, who finance the viability of the company.
“We conclude, as we have been warning for quite some time, that the TAP Restructuring Plan only provides, as a structural measure, for wage cuts and the degradation of working conditions, without locating, eliminating or mitigating what actually impacts the company’s sustainability.”
Nonetheless, it is not ‘all negative’: the union says it hopes to be able to unite efforts between management and workers with the new TAP executive, due to take over in a little over a week’s time, “so that those on the front line can be heard and contribute directly to the real reconstruction of the company” which, they stress “everyone wants to be part of.
“A TAP of the future and with a future”, is the final phrase of the SPAC statement, which has been backed by SITAVA, the airport and aviation workers’ union, which agreed that profits recorded in 2022 were obtained “at the expense of the sacrifice of workers without regard for the means”.
TAP ended 2022 with a net profit of €65.6 million, the airline said in a statement yesterday (the statement itself overshadowed by controversy: outgoing CEO Christine Ourmières-Widener had asked to present it publicly, the government reportedly ‘refused’. Ms Ourmières-Widener is said to be demanding over €3 million in severance pay following her dismissal on live television earlier this month; the government, in the form of finance minister Fernando Medina, has said no compensation payments are due.
