SIA pilots urged by union to boycott dinner
SIA pilots urged by union to boycott dinner
SINGAPORE Airlines pilots have been urged by their union to boycott an annual social gathering organised by the airline.
The dinner, on Feb 25, is held by SIA to show its appreciation to pilots and honour top performers with service awards, its spokesman Nicholas Ionides said.
In the last few months, SIA and the Air Line Pilots Association (Singapore), Alpa-S, have been embroiled in a tussle over pay and other benefits for employment beyond 62.
The Straits Times understands that when negotiations started, the airline had proposed that pilots reaching the retirement age of 62 would be paid the basic starting pay, forgoing all previous increments.
This would mean a pay cut of up to $8,000 for a senior captain. The airline has about 2,000 pilots.
This proposal was rejected by the pilots.
Despite the Manpower Minister stepping in to mediate in the latest dispute, both sides remain at loggerheads.
Alpa-S also represents pilots from SilkAir and SIA Cargo but they are not invited to the party.
The event will go ahead as planned, said Mr Ionides.
In a one-page electronic newsletter to SIA pilots yesterday that The Straits Times learnt about, the 20 office-bearers of the SIA branch committee of Alpa-S said relations with management 'have regrettably reached an undesirable stage'.
The company has also shown 'lack of genuine commitment in resolving the issues', it added.
Given the state of affairs, the note stated that the committee members have 'unanimously' decided not to attend the function and hope that members will 'consider it worth your while to follow suit'.
Alpa-S president Captain P. James, who is not a member of the SIA branch committee, said that as union head, he is 100 per cent behind the boycott.
'We support the call,' he said, adding that relations with management are 'at a real low point'.
He said: 'This is a way for the pilots to peacefully show our dissatisfaction without affecting operations in any way.'
This is not the first time that relations between SIA and its pilots have hit turbulence.
After reaching rock-bottom in 2003 when the Sars crisis led to pay cuts and disgruntled pilots, management-union ties improved considerably after intervention by then-Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew. Over the years, there have been fresh disputes but both sides have managed to resolve their differences, until now.
Mr Ionides did not respond directly to queries on whether relations with Alpa-S have soured considerably in recent times. He said: 'In any relationship, there will be ups and downs of course, but it is always important to maintain open lines of communication.'
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