"Operational Parties": With such pilots at El Al, who needs Corona?
The Israeli economy already knows powerful workers 'committees, but it seems that the El Al pilots' committee decided to redefine its power: the company barely lifted its head from the corona crisis, the Israelis returned to flying - and it was then that El Al won the worst campaign imaginable
Nir Kipnis
08/05/2022
Sunday, 08 May 2022, 10:53 Updated: 11:46
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Pilots are a strange people, quite a few Israelis will say.
On the one hand - the best of the best, on the other - do not see anyone from a shower, a feature that is probably important when flying a bomb, say - a secret nuclear reactor somewhere in the Middle East, but a little less when it comes to civil aviation, a service-oriented industry.
Last week, quite a few Israelis who planned to celebrate Independence Day received a pampering vacation abroad, a message stating that their flight was canceled due to "operational reasons.
" The holiday was denied to them by a committee of thugs who were photographed with their suitcases packed at the front door. He went abroad.
The huge disappointment from El Al, it should be noted, was this time not only the domain of those whose flights were canceled, but also of potential passengers, some of whom showcased their Platinum tickets and stated that they would never fly El Al again.
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Queues at Ben Gurion Airport (those photographed are not related to the current crisis). Until the Israelis returned to flying, EL AL pilots came and grounded them (Photo: Reuven Castro)
Contempt for anyone who is not a pilot
From a media-marketing standpoint, this is much more than a slight blow to the wing.
It is true that not everyone who threatens not to fly with the company will also realize the threat (in the end, most of us' choice is derived from the timing and price level - even those we will touch on soon), but in an era where image is the name of the game, El Al has suffered a terrible blow.
On the sidelines of the incident, the other workers 'committees at the company decided to prevent participation in the Independence Day flight, perhaps because they too know that whoever pays the price of the damage done to the company now, through its pilots' fault, is not necessarily the pilots themselves: when a company gets into trouble. The one who is the cheapest to fire.
The response of the pilots' committee, which suggested to the mechanics "to do what they know to do best and that is aircraft maintenance" is a masterpiece of contempt for colleagues who do not wear flight wings.
The pilots were promised that all salary cuts, amounting to tens of percent, would be refunded to them, but they too were supposed to understand that the company has a new partner, the State of Israel, which in exchange for helping the company at the height of the crisis, demanded the cuts in both wages and expenses
. To act directly from now on in front of the company's management and not through the official representative of the workers' committees, the Histadrut. They do not believe in it - perhaps what is good for millions of unionized workers in Israel is not good enough for the elite
. When it comes to an airline, it's two years of existential crisis: hotels can still direct marketing efforts to the local market.
El Al needed an oxygen flow: the state assisted in the rescue, the owners put a hand in the pocket, the workers' committees flexed and cooperated with recovery plans in which the workforce was cut by a third (!) And everyone prayed for civil aviation to resume in 2019 before the virus was discovered.
Sometimes dreams come true and prayers are answered: the Korna restrictions were slowly lifted and the public flew back until it seemed that the only thing that could delay the passenger numbers we knew in the days before the plague was the queue for passports at the Interior Ministry.
Moreover, many families, also due to the need to regulate the renewal of passports, have taken an almost non-Israeli pattern of action this year and are currently planning their summer vacations and holidays, many months in advance - that is, they also order plane tickets.
Kenneth (Kenny) Rosenberg, owners of El Al (Photo: Yossi Zamir, Globes)
Everyone put their hand in their pocket to deal with the crisis
El Al has long been not Israel's national airline, but a private company for everything, but in fact - not for everything.
In moments of crisis, it becomes the last company to suspend its flights to and from Israel.
This was the case when foreign companies canceled flights due to fears of the security situation, as well as when Israelis get stuck abroad and more.
El Al does not always do this for purely Zionist reasons, but because of the close relationship between Israeli governments An airline that would serve the State of Israel in moments of crisis, was the living spirit behind the rescue plan of El Al (and to a much lesser extent also of Israir and Arkia) in the heyday of the Corona crisis
. It hurt everyone, but a fact he asked about came to the edge of the track while still a functioning company in an industry where many actresses perished in Corona.
Flight for a family vacation (illustration).
What should many families now think about planning their summer and holiday vacations in advance? (Photo: ShutterStock)
Image damage that will be very difficult to repair
El Al pilots are apparently no different from other force committees that the Israeli economy already knows, but while port workers have already learned that it is better to have a dialogue with a new reality that no longer allows them to deprive Israeli industry of essential raw materials. IEC employees have reached an understanding with the company's management - and in recent weeks we have seen the employees of the Airports Authority stretch their working hours to the limit to alleviate the unusual congestion at Ben Gurion Airport (and there are more examples). : The company's management, the colleagues in the company's other departments and certainly - the passengers who dreamed of a vanished vacation.
The damage to the image is enormous: El Al returns to a game in which the rules have changed slightly.
In an age where it is clear that you can not be the cheapest, there must be added value to the passenger.
Some of it goes through a convenient schedule, service and more, but an even more important part is based on reliability.
Cancellation of a flight at the last minute is what is known in military parlance as a "pack of credibility" - and in translation to a language that pilots will also understand: something you would once do as a pilot course trainee, you would fly from it in minutes.
Even if the pilots have justified claims - and in some parameters they can certainly see themselves harmed in the face of canceled cuts or benefits given to employees of other divisions in the company, but the disproportionate step they took and their demand to be represented before the company management as an independent unit
Professional struggles cause most of us to stand (naturally and usually) alongside employees, perhaps because the owners are often wealthy people who can "earn a little less" and please their employees.
But it seems that in the 2022 model, the case is quite different: the owners are the ones who were required to align according to the outline of state aid in investing out of pocket, while the company pilots are the ones who now, right by themselves, cut the industry they used to sit too comfortably.
Dear passengers, listen to the captain's speech: Thank you for choosing EL AL, my friends and I do not see you from a shower.
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EL AL
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