Gulf Air union threatens strike amid cutbacks
[Wed, Nov 25, 2009 10:25:00 am]
DUBAI - Gulf Air’s beleaguered management has “one more chance” to reach a deal with staff or face strike action, a union chief said late on Tuesday after the airline announced job cuts, aircraft sales and route cuts to save almost $3 billion.
“For the time being we have given a chance to the Labour Ministry to solve this problem. After that we might go for a sit-in or strike,” Mustafa al-Tooq, chairman of the Gulf Air Trade Union, told Maktoob Business in a telephone interview.
Samer Majali, Gulf Air’s latest chief executive, on Monday unveiled a fresh five-year restructuring plan aimed at turning around the fortunes of the loss-making airline.
The airline, fully-owned by the Bahraini sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat, launched its new business strategy after a three-month structural review, with its Chairman Talal al-Zain saying it plans to become a sustainable business by 2012.
Zain also said Mumtalakat may sell a stake in the airline and would sell "a minimum of a 25 percent”.
Gulf Air has struggled to compete in recent years and has been in a seemingly constant state of turmoil - haemorrhaging cash, witnessing management upheaval and finding itself subject of several government corruption investigations.
Tooq laid the blame for Gulf Air’s troubles squarely at the feet of airline management, accusing them of “corruption and mismanagement” and threatening to expose this through the media.
“There is corruption and mismanagement, that is the problem. Solving this problem should not come at the expense of staff, who are loyal and very productive,” he said.
“If the management is not willing to solve the problem internally, then we will use the mass media, present our case to parliament and international organisations. A part of defending our rights is to expose the corruption,” he added.
Gulf Air was not immediately available for comment.
Majali said on Monday that if Gulf Air did not restructure it would lose around $2.65 billion over the next five years.
"We have a serious revenue problem because we operate from a small base with high costs,” he said.
The airline employs about 5,700 people and flies to more than 40 destinations in 28 countries.
Tooq said the management wants to terminate 1,160 staff and privatise the airline. He said the union is prepared to fight these moves.
Majali is Gulf Air’s fourth chief executive in three years after Bjorn Naf resigned in July amid criticism from Bahraini lawmakers who threatened yet another probe into corruption at the airline.
The airline was still losing around $700,000 a day this summer, according to a senior MP, despite major restructuring in 2007 that included destination, fleet and employee cutbacks