Portuguese SNPVAC Union commits to remain vigilant in the future of Azores Airlines.

• Aviation crew members decide to join the general strike in emergency assembly, announced SNPVAC.
• The CGTP and the UGT have announced a general strike for December 11 against the Government's proposal, in what will be the first joint strike since June 2013
• The union rejected the statements by the prime minister, Luís Montenegro, who accused the CGTP and UGT trade union confederations, as well as the unions, of "political opportunism" for calling a series of general strikes.

Portuguese National Union of Civil Aviation Flight Personnel (SNPVAC) has commited to remain attentive and vigilant to ensure a future for Azores Airlines, they said to be ensuring that the management and associates "will not accept pressure".

Earlier, the SNPVAC announced that it will schedule an emergency general meeting for its members to decide on a possible adhesion to the general strike of December 11, scheduled by the two Portuguese trade unions.

On Friday, the SNPVAC approved, at an emergency general meeting, the proposed agreement between the union and the Newtour/MS Aviation consortium, which is negotiating the privatization of the Azorean airline Azores Airlines.

According to information sent to the Lusa agency, "225 members" voted, of which "119 voted in favor, 92 voted against and 14 abstentions", and the members "decided to approve the proposal for an agreement between SNPVAC and the Newtour/MS Aviation consortium".

As published by jornalacores9 In a statement sent today to the Lusa agency, the union states that the approval of the document, which obtained 52% of favorable votes, in a general assembly

"with an adhesion to the vote above 83%", translates "a factual position and not a mere sensation" and demonstrates that, "contrary to the insinuations and attacks made to this direction, there have never been obstacles by ideological assumptions or external blockages to reach an agreement".

SNPVAC will not accept pressure and will continue to be attentive and critical :

"As of today, Azores Airlines will be able to enter another cycle, in a different reality. But, despite all the uncertainty that this process has caused, it is certain that the management and associates of the SNPVAC will not accept pressure and will continue to be attentive and critical, so that there is a future for everyone, for the company, for the population of the Azores, for the Azorean diaspora and for the region", guarantees the union.

• Although SATA started its journey as a private carrier, it was taken over by the Azores administration in 1980. Initially, ownership was shared between the regional government and TAP Air Portugal, the country’s largest airline.
• SATA has struggled since year 2014 when the airline, wholly owned by the Azores regional government, began to record losses, which worsened during the Covid-19 pandemic.
• In June 2020, the Azores Government announced it was abandoning the second attempt to privatize Azores Airlines after a first tender was cancelled in November 2018. In June this year, the regional government president confirmed that the European Commission had placed a requirement on privatizing up to 51% of Azores Airlines’ share capital.
• The privatisation of Azores Airlines is being negotiated with the Newtour/MS Aviation consortium, with the Regional Government (PSD/CDS-PP/PPM) admitting the possibility of a private negotiation or the closure of the company, if it is not possible to reach an agreement.

According to the SNPVAC, Azores Airlines cabin crew "did not shirk their obligations, accepted the challenge and assumed their responsibility".

As per the SNPVAC's leadership, the Newtour/MS Aviation consortium

"will have to assume the error of the open letter sent to the Cabin Staff" and "will have to admit that the SNPVAC management does not act by individual assumptions, but with a real notion of the whole, without ever ceasing to defend the interests" of its members and "much less allow them to be left with any kind of burden in this process, that we don't know how it will proceed".

In the statement to members regarding the general meeting, the SNPVAC board also maintains that the reading of the vote "is simple, but with several underlying messages".

The union also points to "the lack of confidence" in the current management of SATA, pointing out "successive errors of management, communication and decision", which "does not give guarantees for the future of the company".

Newtour/MS Aviation, which has until Monday to submit a proposal for the airline, considers that the "posture of the union leaders, in addition to being conditioned by ideological assumptions, was to block an agreement", despite the fact that the employees have "expressed openness to compromise".

On Thursday, the Newtour/MS Aviation consortium insisted that it will only submit a proposal for Azores Airlines if it reaches an understanding with the workers, having called on cabin crew to understand that "responsibility requires realism".

Newtour/MS Aviation recalls that the dialogue with the Civil Aviation Pilots Union (SPAC) "took place with seriousness and a sense of responsibility", culminating in the approval of the proposal presented by the consortium.

According to the consortium, the proposal presented to cabin crew "is not the same, nor could it be" to that of pilots, since each profession has its "specificities", but presents the "same rationale".

Back in June 2022, the Regional Government agreed with the European Commission to sell the majority of the capital of Azores Airlines, as part of the financial rescue of the company following the Covid-19 pandemic. Something that the union structure contests.

“It is important to demystify that the European Commission (EC), by virtue of the European Treaties, does not require (nor can it) the privatization of anything. It was, in fact, the Portuguese Government that placed the objective of privatization in the company's restructuring process. "

"A political decision that, if implemented, will transform the Government into the executioner and gravedigger of the SATA Group and the Azoreans”, said the statement.

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