A struggle has been taking place in recent months between the pilots committee at El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE: ELAL) and company management, resulting in cancelation and delay of hundreds of flights, with thousands of passengers suffering damage. The pilots complain about a shortage of pilots, and are demanding better conditions, asserting that in recent months, they have been working far more than they are used to. A legal contest between the parties is also being waged in the regional labor court.
Official documents submitted to the court by the company show that management has given statements exposing for the first time the huge growth in the pilots' salaries in recent months. According to the statements, the flight captains' salaries average NIS 96,756 in June 2016, 21% higher than in June 2015. The pilots' salaries averaged NIS 94,832 in May, 28% more than in May 2015.
The trend was similar in March, when the pilots earned an average of NIS 77,699, 28% higher than the NIS 60,743 they averaged in March 2015.
31% of the pilots earned more than NIS 91,000 in January 2016, compared with only 12% last year. The upward trend continued afterward, eventually boosting the flight captains' average pay. 47% of the flight captains earned more than NIS 91,000 in June 2016, compared with 27% last year.
Management: Flight captains demanded business class seats
According to some of the documents, the pilots' average number of work hours has risen dramatically. For example, pilots averaged 77 flight hours a month in October 2014, 74 hours in December 2015, and 87 hours in January 2016. On the other hand, the average in June was 81 hours, the same as in the preceding month, but the salary trend was still upward.
Nevertheless, management claims that flight captains are making their flights contingent on an immediate trip back to Israel when they are not working. According to management, the pilots are even demanding that business class seats be reserved for them on return flights. The airline claims that it has been forced to pay pilots double, plus the cost of either flying alternative crews on foreign airlines or reserving business class seats for them on El Al flights.
El Al pilots workers committee head Nir Zuk said in response, "Company management has already petitioned the labor court twice in the past six months with similar claims, and its petitions have been dismissed. The court ruled that the pilots were not disrupting flights or conducting sanctions. The logical thing right now is to wait for the court's comments next Tuesday. We are convinced that the court will again rule that management's allegations are groundless. El Al pilots are indeed flying much more recently than in the past, and are accepting an irregular and extreme burden of flights at the expense of their free time, their families, and their health. It is natural that salaries have also risen at the same time. It saddens me that the same people asking us to fly more hours complain when our salaries go up, as if we have stolen something or done something illegal."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 14, 2016
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