Strike action over pay and conditions threatened ahead of September EGM (419 words)

Published: 8/27/2001

In keeping with an established tradition of stirring up controversy prior to an important company event, Aeroflot trade unions are yet again threatening to strike before the company's EGM in September. The threat follows a similar situation before the carrier's AGM in May, when a number of unions proposed, among other things, a US-style stay-at-home protest, with the mass taking of sick leave by flight crew. In the end, the arbitration court banned the action, although the company did make some compromises on negotiations relating to levels of pay. The latest protest, according to the repair and maintenance union, is owing to the management's failure to follow up on those undertakings, which were made to the union in June. The union represents 1200 of the airline's repair and maintenance staff or less than 10% of Aeroflot's 15,000 employees. Its principle complaint is the level of wages for maintenance and repair engineering staff, which currently average $250 a month and the union claims that little is being done to resolve the low levels of pay or the general situation at the airline. It claims that, despite official statements to the contrary, services both on the ground and in the air are not improving and that the airline is experiencing a critical shortage of parts, with commensurate risks to aircraft. The trade union has sent its claims to Sergey Frank, Minister of Transport and Aeroflot's Chairman, warning that, if nothing is done its members will go on strike. Aeroflot has responded to the union's protest by offering to form a committee made up of equal representation from labour and management to examine the claims. Aeroflot's management, however, insists that the union's allegations ignore the proposals that it has already made in terms of improvements to the airline's salary system. These relate to productivity, performance, qualification and responsibilities. In addition, it says that changes to the organization of aircraft repair and maintenance have been put forward, with the proposal that the Aviation Technical Centre will have autonomy within Aeroflot, with its own budget and responsibilities. The timing of this latest action suggests that the airline's management needs the support of the unions at the forthcoming EGM, and this is a salutary reminder to Valery Okulov of just how much power the unions can wield. The unions are also vocally opposed to the new system of salaries that could threaten entrenched interests within the airline's labour force.

Article ID: 2721