A Pilots Guild force measure grounded at least 12 airline flights

An assembly of pilots this Monday generated a scene not seen since before the pandemic: chaos at the Aeroparque, with More than 10 Aerolineas Argentinas flights delayed and at least two already canceledonly from 12:00 to 15:00.

At 1.20 pm the assembly of the guild began Aircraft Pilots Association (APLA), with which a dozen departing scheduled flights remained unmanned, only in the next hour. Two other flights have already been canceled.

Because the guild he runs Pablo Biro back to strength measures? In principle, there is a claim to salary increase, although that specific request is in the middle of a negotiation. The pilots are demanding a raise on behalf of the future joint venture, which expires in late September, and have been called to a meeting for next week.

APLA’s claim, however, is not just salary. The pilots want to carve out the Government’s policy on the entire commercial aviation sector and ask the Ministry of Transport to implement the tariff band system that the Government published by decree at the end of last year.

This decree of 24 December provided for the re-establishment, within a period of six months, of the system of maximum and minimum prices for domestic air tickets. The government has made a series of inquiries to the airlines that fly today, which are the airlines and the “low cost” airlines Flybondi and JetSmart. He also extended his application to two other airlines that have their planes on the ground since 2020 or even earlier: Andes and Avian.

So far there has been no further news on this controversial decree, which was even challenged in court by Flybondi. And for the APLA pilots, this lack of news is also one of the causes of the force measure.

In fact, the only flights affected this Monday were those of Aerolineas, because the union led by Biró has no interference in the other two “low cost” airlines operating at Aeroparque. Both Flybondi and JetSmart have their own guilds “company”, with legal personality that was granted to him during the Macri government.

At Aerolíneas they observed that this decision is proof of the “political” nature of the measure of force. “It is not a wage strike, because it is something that is being negotiated. It is a political strike against the government,” said strong members of the state company, chaired by Pablo Ceriani, which politically responds to the senator and leader of La Campora Mariano Recalde.

In a statement, Aerolineas Argentinas said it “deplored” the “irrational measure of strength“of APLA,” which is affecting the normal operation of the operation, with cancellations and delays in our flights that damage more than 2,000 passengers“.

“This measure of strength, of clear political contenthe finds no reason to exist in the working conditions of the APLA representatives, but rather Its only objective is to condition the commercial and economic policy of the Government, which supported jobs and wages during the pandemic, “the company added.

In the statement, they tried to separate the wage conflict from other demands from the Biró-led union. “As regards the rest of the claims expressed (implementation of the tariff bands, collective agreement for personnel activities and income), its implementation exceeds the framework of the attributions of this companydealing with definitions that go beyond the employment relationship that binds Aerolineas Argentinas to its pilots “.

Regarding the income claim of several pilots, the company added: “As is known, the National Government with the decree 246/22 has limited the entry of personnel into the public sector, of which Aerolineas Argentinas is an integral part. No However, according to the fleet plan outlined, the company is carrying out the related procedure in order to comply with the regulations in force.

And he returned to the extra-wage causes of the “assembly”. “On the other hand, both the establishment of a regulatory framework for air fares and the definition of a collective agreement for activities are outside the remit of this company, which is why, the measure of force applied is irrational and unjustifiable“.

“We are in full season, despite the winter holidays are over, with the planes full and they do this to us“, they complained this afternoon within the airline. And they also reflected it in the statement:” In spite of them, we want to highlight the effort of the different areas of government to address the claims raised. And we ask the trade association to reconnect with the prematurely interrupted dialogue, through an energetic measure that affects both our passengers and tourist destinations. in the middle of the winter season.