Argentine national carrier Aerolíneas Argentinas released a statement on Tuesday in which it announces that it will denounce pilots who went on strike last week and that it seeks to remove Biró out of the company's board of directors.
According to the statement, "The recent measures of force carried out by the APLA (pilots) and AAA (crew members) unions, originally called "informative assemblies" to hide their abusive and illegal nature, have already caused Aerolíneas Argentinas losses of more than 2 million dollars.
As a consequence, the company will advance in a lawsuit against the unions involved for the damages caused, mainly for the loss of profit from the operation and for the claims of the injured passengers.
The main representatives of these unions will also be denounced as responsible for these measures: Pablo Biró for APLA, and Juan Pablo Brey for AAA," reads the statement from Aerolíneas Argentinas.
The flag carrier pointed to Biró and Juan Pablo Brey, as responsible for the "abusive and illegal" measure that caused "losses of more than two million dollars" due to the damages caused, mainly due to the loss of profit from the operation and the claims of the injured passengers.
"The case of Biró also implies a greater responsibility for being part of the Board of Directors of Aerolíneas Argentinas.
That is to say that due to his public statements and his direct action against the interests of the company, Biró acted unfairly against the company itself and is liable "unlimitedly and jointly and severally, for the damages resulting from his action or omission", according to article 59 of the General Law of Corporations."
For this reason, at the request of the Ministry of Transportation, the company's main shareholder, the necessary actions will be taken to initiate the process of expulsion from said body, says Aerolíneas.
From this measure, the Government moved forward with declaring commercial air transport as an essential service.
The government explained that given the strategic importance of this sector for "connectivity, commerce and passenger transport," the regulatory decree will establish measures to "guarantee a minimum level of services in the face of labor conflicts that may totally or partially interrupt activities."
According to the company, it is an express request from the Ministry of Transportation, the company's main shareholder.
They also reported that more than 400 discounts have already been made to pilots, co-pilots and crew members for failing to comply with their duties and affecting the company's flight schedule. "These discounts are an average of 150 thousand pesos per day for pilots, and 50 thousand pesos per day for crew members."
This Friday, a nine-hour strike led by the Association of Airline Pilots (APLA) complicated activity at the airports of Aeroparque and Ezeiza. The strike action, motivated by a lack of agreement in salary negotiations with Aerolíneas Argentinas (AA), affected 185 flights and left more than 16,000 passengers stranded.
On that day, the pilots' strike began at 5 a.m. and lasted until 2 p.m. Aerolíneas Argentinas assured Clarín that passengers were accommodated on subsequent flights and that 14 special flights were created outside the original schedule.
The carrier statement concluded by saying that
"from Aerolíneas Argentinas we will put all our efforts to avoid further complications in the travel itineraries of our passengers, and we will continue to denounce any type of union measure that is deliberately designed to harm them."
These measures have been advanced by Fabián Lombardo, president of Aerolíneas Argentinas.He described the strike as "wild" and pointed out that the union members broke the negotiating table in which a salary increase was being discussed.
While the pilots demand a 70% increase, the company offers 11%. According to Lombardo, pilots earn between 3 and 10 million pesos per month, depending on their seniority, in addition to enjoying several additional benefits. Fabián Lombardo said,
"The problem is with the unions, they cannot carry out this wildcat strike, they are not understanding that Argentina has changed. They are asking for a 70% increase."
"Pilots here have adequate salaries and huge benefits for them that don't exist in the industry. They are not understanding. This was a negotiation that we were carrying out and untimely they came out with this strike," he said in dialogue with Radio Mitre.
Display Picture Courtesy : Carlos Paz Vivo
