2016 EL AL Pilots labor dispute
Nov 13, 2016, 8:16 am
#1
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2016 EL AL Pilots labor dispute
http://hamodia.com/2016/11/13/el-al-...eneral-strike/
http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-t...-al-1001160636
From Globes and Hamodia:
El Al employees are likely to go on strike in the coming weeks, Channel Two reported Motzoei Shabbos. Employees will take a vote this week on declaring a labor dispute, the first step in declaring an official strike.
The main issue is El Al’s policy of off-loading scheduled flights to other carriers.
El Al management has consistently canceled flights in recent months and rescheduled them on other carriers, where pay and maintenance costs are much lower.
By doing this, management was able to avoid paying overtime and extra costs to El Al workers, whose contracts provide them with extra pay and benefits for overtime.
The heads of the workers' committees have been instructed by the head of the Histadrut's Transport Division Avi Edri to begin the vote today.
http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-t...-al-1001160636
From Globes and Hamodia:
El Al employees are likely to go on strike in the coming weeks, Channel Two reported Motzoei Shabbos. Employees will take a vote this week on declaring a labor dispute, the first step in declaring an official strike.
The main issue is El Al’s policy of off-loading scheduled flights to other carriers.
El Al management has consistently canceled flights in recent months and rescheduled them on other carriers, where pay and maintenance costs are much lower.
By doing this, management was able to avoid paying overtime and extra costs to El Al workers, whose contracts provide them with extra pay and benefits for overtime.
The heads of the workers' committees have been instructed by the head of the Histadrut's Transport Division Avi Edri to begin the vote today.
Nov 13, 2016, 1:02 pm
#2
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Spoiled Pilots Canceled Sunday Night's 027!!
The pilots refused to fly (work) both directions. They demand to fly to EWR and then come straight home, taking up seats in Business Class (lost revenue) - instead of doing the overnight in a hotel and flying (working) an aircraft back to TLV. Unless I am missing something, seems the LY pilots are totally in the wrong.
Nov 13, 2016, 3:15 pm
#3
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I'm sick of this. They should sort themselves out once and for all, but don't seem to get the message. They don't seem to care.
Nov 13, 2016, 3:18 pm
#4
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posted on el al website :\
Due to the pilots' sanctions and their insistence to travel only one way, flight 027 to Newark scheduled for tonight was canceled, as well as the return flight 028 from Newark to Tel Aviv. The company will return to its customers their money.
The pilots' sanctions have been harming the company's activity for months. The sanctions include pilots not responding to requests to take flights and to fly as active pilots both ways, insisting just on a one way as active pilots .
We are sorry that our customers are being hurt, but we have no choice but to restore order and bring back the company on track of regular operations
Due to the pilots' sanctions and their insistence to travel only one way, flight 027 to Newark scheduled for tonight was canceled, as well as the return flight 028 from Newark to Tel Aviv. The company will return to its customers their money.
The pilots' sanctions have been harming the company's activity for months. The sanctions include pilots not responding to requests to take flights and to fly as active pilots both ways, insisting just on a one way as active pilots .
We are sorry that our customers are being hurt, but we have no choice but to restore order and bring back the company on track of regular operations
Nov 13, 2016, 3:30 pm
#5
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Nov 13, 2016, 11:53 pm
#7
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Maybe LY should just outsource completely to Hi Fly. Wet lease every single flight and slowly fire unnecessary crew. Maybe with a brand new staff, LY will finally be ready for brand new management, and then voila, a functional airline!
Nov 14, 2016, 12:47 am
#8
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This company needs bankruptcy, voiding all the labor contracts and starting over. Amazing that despite all this they seem to be making money. Will be interesting to see how long this lasts.
Nov 14, 2016, 1:38 am
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LY395 to Madrid this morning was operated by Privilege Style
LY347 This morning to Zurich was operated by Travel service
LY007 this morning to JFK is operated by HighFly
LY319 to Paris CDG this morning was canclled
LY347 This morning to Zurich was operated by Travel service
LY007 this morning to JFK is operated by HighFly
LY319 to Paris CDG this morning was canclled
Nov 14, 2016, 10:36 am
#12
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from Arutz Sheva:
"In the coming days, El Al pilots are expected to announce an official 'work dispute' with the company, a move which, according to Israel's labor laws, will allow them to call an organized strike as long as they give 14 days warning"
Current flight cancellations are not related to the official strike as of yet.
"In the coming days, El Al pilots are expected to announce an official 'work dispute' with the company, a move which, according to Israel's labor laws, will allow them to call an organized strike as long as they give 14 days warning"
Current flight cancellations are not related to the official strike as of yet.
Nov 14, 2016, 8:18 pm
#13
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http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/1.753206
A battle between El Al Airlines’ management and its pilots has emerged into the open in recent days as the airline abandoned its policy of accommodating pilots’ demands, allowing flights to be canceled rather than give in.
Until now El Al management has acceded to pilots’ demands that they fly only one way on a round trip – and get paid to fly as passengers in business class on the return leg. But after the workers’ committee declared a labor dispute over the weekend, CEO David Maimon has decided to take a tougher line.
Canceling the two flights will cost the airline tens of thousands of shekels, until now the pilots’ union, led by Nir Tzuk, has bet correctly that the carrier wouldn’t dare give up revenues or risk leaving passengers stranded.
Labor relations at El Al have traditionally been fraught but under a collective labor agreement signed in June 2015, employees, including pilots, promised the airline industrial peace for the next three years. In return, workers got a collective $3 million bonus from a series of pay raises.
But labor relations have unraveled anyhow in anticipation of new rules for pilots, known as Flight Time Limitations, which have been adopted by Europe, the United States and Israel. Aimed at ensuring that pilots are well rested and can fly safely, the FTL sets a ceiling of 60 hours of work a week for a pilot as well as a maximum of 190 a month and 1,000 a year. The hours include not just flying time but travel to and from the airport, waiting times for delayed flights and pre-flight briefings.
The problem for El Al pilots is that over the years they have developed, with management’s consent, an informal system of booking large numbers of overtime hours – today amounting to 75 over the basic monthly number required.
The overtime is a major supplement to pilots’ pay because the hourly rate is much higher – starting at a 50% premium and reaching as much as 230% if the extra hours exceed 85 in a month. To reach the number, the pilots have employed creative ways.
Until recently the pilots’ union was engaged in secret talks with management about how to realign pay so it can conform with the new limits imposed by the FTL. But the negotiations have been rocky because pay now is based on tacit understandings and non-standard work practice.
To step up the pressure, the pilots have exploited the airline’s chronic shortage of pilots. Pilots have refused to report for work unless they are guaranteed they will only have to fly one way. That means El Al has to employ a second crew for the return flight while the first crew sits in business class and gets paid as if it were working, while depriving the airline of profitable business class seats.
Another tactic has been to call in sick at the last minute, as safety rules allow them to do. These tactics have had the intended effect of costing the airline heavily. Last month, the average pay for pilots reached 98,000 shekels, a third more than a year earlier.
As part of the dogfight with pilots, management has not only refused to give into pilot demands on one-way flights but has begun distributing facts and figures on pilots’ compensation under the title “El Al Pilot’s Dubious Deal.” The shows that the airlines’ 600 pilots, including captains and first officers, earn an average of 80,000 shekels a month, more than eight times the average wage nationally.
The facts and figures have put the unions and the Histadrut labor federation in an embarrassing position, since salaries like that make it difficult to talk about defending workers’ rights. The pilots’ workers’ committee blamed Monday the canceled flights on management failure and charged it with trying to convert El Al from an airline into a travel company.
A battle between El Al Airlines’ management and its pilots has emerged into the open in recent days as the airline abandoned its policy of accommodating pilots’ demands, allowing flights to be canceled rather than give in.
Until now El Al management has acceded to pilots’ demands that they fly only one way on a round trip – and get paid to fly as passengers in business class on the return leg. But after the workers’ committee declared a labor dispute over the weekend, CEO David Maimon has decided to take a tougher line.
Canceling the two flights will cost the airline tens of thousands of shekels, until now the pilots’ union, led by Nir Tzuk, has bet correctly that the carrier wouldn’t dare give up revenues or risk leaving passengers stranded.
Labor relations at El Al have traditionally been fraught but under a collective labor agreement signed in June 2015, employees, including pilots, promised the airline industrial peace for the next three years. In return, workers got a collective $3 million bonus from a series of pay raises.
But labor relations have unraveled anyhow in anticipation of new rules for pilots, known as Flight Time Limitations, which have been adopted by Europe, the United States and Israel. Aimed at ensuring that pilots are well rested and can fly safely, the FTL sets a ceiling of 60 hours of work a week for a pilot as well as a maximum of 190 a month and 1,000 a year. The hours include not just flying time but travel to and from the airport, waiting times for delayed flights and pre-flight briefings.
The problem for El Al pilots is that over the years they have developed, with management’s consent, an informal system of booking large numbers of overtime hours – today amounting to 75 over the basic monthly number required.
The overtime is a major supplement to pilots’ pay because the hourly rate is much higher – starting at a 50% premium and reaching as much as 230% if the extra hours exceed 85 in a month. To reach the number, the pilots have employed creative ways.
Until recently the pilots’ union was engaged in secret talks with management about how to realign pay so it can conform with the new limits imposed by the FTL. But the negotiations have been rocky because pay now is based on tacit understandings and non-standard work practice.
To step up the pressure, the pilots have exploited the airline’s chronic shortage of pilots. Pilots have refused to report for work unless they are guaranteed they will only have to fly one way. That means El Al has to employ a second crew for the return flight while the first crew sits in business class and gets paid as if it were working, while depriving the airline of profitable business class seats.
Another tactic has been to call in sick at the last minute, as safety rules allow them to do. These tactics have had the intended effect of costing the airline heavily. Last month, the average pay for pilots reached 98,000 shekels, a third more than a year earlier.
As part of the dogfight with pilots, management has not only refused to give into pilot demands on one-way flights but has begun distributing facts and figures on pilots’ compensation under the title “El Al Pilot’s Dubious Deal.” The shows that the airlines’ 600 pilots, including captains and first officers, earn an average of 80,000 shekels a month, more than eight times the average wage nationally.
The facts and figures have put the unions and the Histadrut labor federation in an embarrassing position, since salaries like that make it difficult to talk about defending workers’ rights. The pilots’ workers’ committee blamed Monday the canceled flights on management failure and charged it with trying to convert El Al from an airline into a travel company.
Nov 14, 2016, 8:31 pm
#14
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Their average pay is about a quarter million (USA) dollars per year and they're unhappy? Wow!
Nov 14, 2016, 11:09 pm
#15
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I still see the Histadrut fighting for the pilots. The Histadrut cares less about workers' rights and more about "down with all evil corporations and the evil government," so however good the pilots have it, the employer (LY) has it better, and that's evil