Luis Ceriotto
10/03/2020 - 11:35
Clarín.com
Economy
The leadership of
Aerolineas Argentinas
agreed with the two pilot unions to unify into a
single union entity
to advance the merger (actually, absorption) of
Austral
within Aerolineas.
This is what the head of both companies,
Pablo Ceriani
, said this Saturday
: "We took a fundamental step to finalize the
merger of Aerolineas and Austral.
We reached an agreement between the pilots of both companies that put an end to a history of disagreements within our line air of flag, "said the official.
Within Aerolineas they already take for granted that regular passenger flights
will be authorized in the middle of this month
.
"An announcement is being prepared for October 17," industry sources outside the company said.
Ceriani's announcement means in fact
os
the disappearance of the Union AIRLINE PILOTS (UALA)
, the union that had been created in 1985 to bring together the pilots of Austral and negotiate their own agreement independent of the other airline pilots.
Now UALA will be absorbed by the
Airline Pilots Association (APLA),
the strongest of the aeronautical unions, led by
Pablo Biró.
Pablo Biró from Apla and Cristián Erhardt from UALA leave a meeting at the Ministry of Labor in October 2019. Now the two unions are merging within APLA.
Photo Emmanuel Fernández
"From this agreement, the work of the pilots will be developed under the same rules and criteria, their ranks will be integrated and
their union representation will be unified
. This will improve the productivity of the fleet," added Ceriani, through a statement that spread on Twitter.
As Clarín announced a week ago, the agreements that Aerolíneas proposed to Austral's pilots and cabin crew keep the salary scales unchanged: they will charge the same as until now.
What remained a matter of discussion was
the question of hierarchies
, since Biró's claim was
that no Austral pilot interfered with the promotions of Aerolineas pilots.
"We still do not know the content of the agreement," an Austral pilot said resigned this Saturday.
"But it was this or disappear."
The Aerolineas statement had not been reported on Saturday, inside UALA.
Yesterday we took a fundamental step to finalize the merger of @Aerolineas_AR and Austral.
We reached an agreement between the pilots of both companies that put an end to a history of disagreements within our flag airline.
- Pablo Ceriani (@ceriani_pablo) October 3, 2020
The merger also has the support of the
General Inspection of Justice (IGJ)
, which through a note endorsed that Aerolineas can incorporate Austral even though it has negative net worth.
The head of the IGJ,
Ricardo Nissen
, pointed out through a note dated mid-June that the merger may take place within the framework of the "suspension" of an article of the General Companies Law that established the Social and Social Solidarity Law. Productive reactivation that Congress voted as soon as President Alberto Fernández took office.
"To the extent (that the merger) is in a condition to be registered in the Public Registry under my charge within the effective period of the suspension of legal regulations (...) said registration may proceed in due course," says the note from Nissen.
The head of Aerolineas also pointed out another implicit alliance with another of the strong aeronautical unions, in this case the Association of Aeronautical Technical Personnel (APTA), led by Ricardo Cirielli.
"Along with the merger, the company is developing a
new business unit to provide aircraft maintenance to other companies
and industry players," added Ceriani, who politically reports to the national senator and
La Cámpora
leader
,
Mariano Recalde.
"Similarly, progress is being made in the creation of a
cargo business unit
, which will take advantage of the experience gained by the company in its cargo flights to Shanghai, as it in turn represents an old outstanding debt for the company in terms of the development of a specific unit for the transport of merchandise, "added Ceriani.
