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TAP’s restructuring plan calls for a 25% reduction in the wage bill and the fleet from 105 to 88 aircraft, according to unions that met with the group’s management on Friday.
In a statement to the affiliates, to which Lusa had access, the direction of the National Union of Civil Aviation Flight Personnel (SNPVAC) said that this Friday, November 27, it left the meeting in which the labor measures that make up the plan are found. of restructuring “with great concern”, for being “absolutely dramatic”, that is, the “imposition of a 25% reduction in the wage bill, a transversal measure imposed on the entire TAP group.”
Taking into account that TAP paid around 750 million euros in salaries to some 10,600 workers, this represents a reduction of around 187.5 million euros.
In the case of the crew, the “layoff of 750 effective crew members is expected, in addition to the more than 1,000 term contracts terminated, which implies a definitive extinction of more than 1,800 jobs,” according to the SNPVAC.
The Independent Union of Airline Pilots (SIPLA) also mentions that the plan presented by the interim executive president, Ramiro Sequeira, contemplates “a reduction in remuneration by 25%, and despite the insistence of management, it was never clarified how it will be your application. “
Regarding the resizing of the fleet, in 2021 there will be 88 aircraft [face aos atuais 105], and an adjustment to a maximum of 101 aircraft is expected by 2025 ”, he adds in the note to his associates.
The Aircraft Maintenance Technicians Union (SITEMA), for its part, refused to transmit to the affiliates “the figures and scenarios presented” at the meeting: “They are figures in which we do not believe, and which do not coincide, but on we cannot accept everything. “
“We would like to disclose the figures to you, but we insist once again that at the moment those presented to us do not seem credible and serve to paint the future in a very gray way,” adds the union structure, in the communication to its associates, to which Lusa had access.
SITEMA says that next Thursday it will meet with the supervising minister -Pedro Nuno Santos-, in which it believes that the TAP plan will be discussed in more detail.
In the note to the workers, SNPVAC also considers that the figures presented to them “represent incalculable damage to our families”, having informed the TAP administration that “there are alternative solutions that allow safeguarding jobs, thus minimizing the number of total layoffs “. “.
TAP’s restructuring plan must be presented to the European Commission before December 10, with the European Commission being required to grant a state loan of up to 1,200 million euros, to face the difficulties of the company, derived from the impact of the avid-19 pandemic on the aviation sector.
Proposals for terminations and advances of unpaid leave in the coming weeks
TAP will propose to workers a package of voluntary measures, which will include layoffs by mutual agreement, long-term unpaid leave and part-time work, and will allow cross-cutting pay cuts and layoffs.
In a communication to the workers, to which Lusa had access, the administration assures that “the greater the adhesion, the less will be the need for other measures to be decided in the future.”
In addition to the voluntary measures that will be presented “in the coming weeks”, the Board of Directors adds that “scenarios such as the suspension of the payment of some compensation supplements, transversal salary cuts, are put to discussion, guaranteeing a minimum amount that ensures protection of the lowest wages “. low, and the possibility of adapting the number of workers to an operation that in the coming years will be reduced between 30% and 50%, thus returning to values experienced for more than a decade ”.
“Only with everyone’s contribution will we be able to save TAP and keep running a company of which more than 75 years of history make us proud. Ensuring a relevant TAP in the context of our country and in the world, capable of contributing to the development of the Portuguese economy, we have many sacrifices ahead of us “, reads the statement sent on Friday, after the meeting with the unions representing the group workers.
At the same time, he says, “aware that the fall in revenue in the coming years will be colossal and is estimated at several billion euros,” TAP implemented “a strong cost reduction” with suppliers and service providers. , “which will allow TAP to have economic benefits of around 1,500 million euros in 2025”.
In the note to the workers, the president of the Board of Directors, Miguel Frasquilho, and the president of the Executive Committee, Ramiro Sequeira, emphasize that “the company needs a coherent, realistic and solid restructuring plan that ensures its survival” that ” It will only be successful if it has everyone’s support. “
According to the note, the meeting with the unions served to “agree with them the final version and deliver it to the Government, which will forward it to the European Commission, with which it will be negotiated.”
Recalling that the sector is flying at around 30% of 2019 levels and TAP is no exception, management says that “TAP is at a disadvantage compared to its counterparts, due to lower profitability ratios (EBIT margin), higher unit costs (ex-CASK of fuel) and higher number of workers per plane “.
“We therefore have no alternative but to implement a restructuring plan that includes a strong and transversal cost cut and the possible, but uncertain, increase in revenues, to avoid the end of TAP”, sums up the administration.
At the end of 2019, TAP employed some 10,600 workers and paid more than 750 million euros in wages.
TAP’s restructuring plan must be presented to the European Commission before December 10, with the European Commission being required to grant a state loan of up to 1,200 million euros, to face the difficulties of the company, derived from the impact of the avid-19 pandemic on the aviation sector.
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