Following deadlock between Malta Air & GWU, 40 cabin crew to be made redundant

Malta Air has announced a total of 40 cabin crew will be made redundant as from 1^st January, and blamed the General Workers Union for talks breaking down.

A spokesperson for the Ryanair Group subsidiary said that the GWU failed to deliver on a cabin crew emergency agreement which had been agreed by the two sides last Thursday.

Malta Air said this emergency agreement included “modest pay cuts” to be restored over four years, and a minimum pay guarantee together with a three-year review.

The airline is currently operating at just 10 per cent of its capacity due to the COVID-19 crisis but is still employing 100 per cent of its pre-pandemic cabin crew headcount, the spokesman said.

“It is an untenable situation in an industry which has been devastated by COVID-19 and will take many years to recover,” Malta Air said in a statement.

“Sadly, without this emergency agreement, which was already agreed by Malta Air pilots, cabin crew job losses can no longer be avoided. As a direct result of the GWU’s failure to deliver upon its agreement with Malta Air, there will be 40 cabin crew redundancies implemented and these job losses will take effect on 1^st January”