Mexicana's pilots have agreed to cut their monthly wages to $1,500 for 100 days as they work with the bankrupt carrier's new owners in a potential restructuring.
Tenedora K, which acquired Mexicana's parent company on 20 August, earlier this week said it had reached an agreement with pilots union ASPA and was trying to negotiate concessions with the carrier's other unions. It has said its potential rescue of Mexicana parent Nuevo Grupo Aeronautico (NGA), which includes regional carriers Click and Link, is dependent on new agreements with all employee groups.
An ASPA spokesman confirms the union forged last week a letter of intent with Tenedora K. The spokesman says as part of the deal all active pilots in the group - regardless of seniority or type of aircraft flown - will be paid only 20,000 pesos per month ($1,500) over a 100-day period.
The spokesman says the 100-day period will begin after new deals are reached with all of Mexicana's unions, which ASPA hopes will occur over the weekend or early next week. During the 100 days ASPA says it will negotiate a new long-term contract with Tenedora K and help the new owners "decide on the number of routes, number of aircraft and number of crews" the restructured company requires.
The spokesman says during the 100-day period ASPA also hopes to negotiate for a larger stake in the company and a seat on the new board. ASPA currently has a 5% stake, which it also had under the prior ownership structure. But the spokesman says the union didn't have a seat on the previous board.
"We'd like to go for more and have a seat and be able to have a say and decision on the financial issues and, more importantly, operational issues," the spokesman says.
While former Grupo Mexicana CEO Manuel Borja left the company at the end of last week, ASPA says some of the carrier's other executives remain in place for now. ASPA is calling for their removal and wants the appointment of a completely new executive team and board.
ASPA realises the restructured company will be significantly smaller than it was prior to its bankruptcy filing and as a result a large portion of its members will no longer have jobs. But the spokesman says ASPA hopes the restructured company's operation will be bigger than current levels. Click, Link and Mexicana are all currently operating about one third of their pre-bankruptcy schedules.
Due to the reduced schedule, ASPA expects only some of the 776 pilots at Mexicana and 262 pilots at Click will work the 100-day period. Those that do not work will not receive the temporary monthly salary of 20,000 pesos.
He says Link's pilots also have requested to be represented by ASPA and Tenedora K has approved the union's request to include Link in their agreement. Link, which launched operations early last year despite objections from ASPA, currently has about 50 pilots.
Despite the apparent impasse in negotiations between Tenedora K and flight attendant union ASSA, ASPA is confident all the employee groups will accept concessions by early next week. "The pilots are confident they will accept," the ASPA spokesman says. "This company needs to go ahead. With this big trouble everyone needs to give something - the government, the investors, the banks, all the employees. We have to go together."
ASSA so far has been unwilling to negotiate concessions for 100 days but plans to submit by early next week a new long-term contract. Union sources say Mexicana's third union, SNTTTASS, has tentatively agreed to a 10% reduction in pay for 100 days and similar to ASPA use the 100 days to negotiate a new long-term deal.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
