Prague - The management of the Czech Airlines (ČSA) has reached an agreement with the Trade Union of the Flight Attendants to call off the strike planned on 30th October as well as the strike alert. The management has promised to the trade union to alleviate the impact that the restructuralization process prepared within the ČSA will have on the jobs.
„We are glad that we have succeeded in saving more jobs,“ the flight attendants‘ trade union head Petra Posová said.
The Czech Aeroholding board president Václav Řehoř has, nevertheless, pointed out that the basic parameters of the restructuralization process won’t be changed by this agreement.
„I’m glad that we have found a compromise sending a positive signal to the ČSA stakeholders,“ he said.
The dismissals represent an integral part of the restructuralization plan of the ČSA. Originally, 77 pilots, 100 flight attendants and 66 administrative employees should have lost their job.
„Regarding the flight attendants, we have saved 29 work positions,“ the Transport Union president Daniel Šabík confirmed. „As for the pilots, only 65 of them will lose their job. And 26 people will leave the administrative department of the company.“
The Korean Air which holds 44 percent of the share has announced on Wednesday that the airlines support the plan of the Czech finance ministry to provide a capital injection to the company. The only condition for it is the full implementation of the restructuralization plan prepared for the ČSA.
„That has been the condition of the main stakeholder,“ the finance minister Andrej Babiš said. „After the transaction prepared in the ČSA, the Czech state will control only 20 percent of the airlines‘ stocks. There’s nothing else we can do.“
If the European Commission and the Czech Anti-Monopoly Office approve the sale of 34 percent of ČSA to the Travel Service company of Jiří Šimáně, the share of the Czech state will drop to one fifth of the airlines. Travel Service has used the option of Korean Air that had, according to the treaty signed with the former government of premier Petr Nečas, the preemptive right for the rest share belonging to the Czech Aeroholding.
The capital injection the Czech state will provide to the ČSA won’t influence the amount of the state budget. The money will be transferred to the ČSA from the Czech Aeroholding.
The ČSA is providing jobs to 230 pilots, 400 flight attendants and 270 administrative clerks. In 2010, there have been 415 pilots and 752 flight attendants employed by the Czech Airlines.
„The company started a round of sackings in mid-October,“ the spokesman of the ČSA Daniel Šibík announced. „Some people in administration have lost their job.“
Now, it will be the pilots‘ and flight attendants‘ turn. Last week, the flight attendants have decided in favor of a strike. The proposal has been supported by 97 percent of the flight attendants taking part in the vote.
