Costly sickness
Croatia Airlines has fired all 42 cabin crew members who took sick leave over the May Day public holiday in protest of the proposed working conditions outlined in the new collective agreement. The airline’s management noted that staff staged a “blank protest” contrary to state law. The Croatia Airlines Employee Board will now discuss the sackings. However, even if the board does not approve the mass dismissal, it does not prevent the management from having it their own way. The Union of Croatia Airlines Cabin Crew, which has not signed up to the new collective agreement, has said that their sick colleagues were harassed over the weekend by investigators from the Croatian Health Insurance Fund. They insist that the crew who took sick leave are in fact ill.
The latest move is likely to even further stir tension within the airline and damage already shaky relations between pilots, cabin crew and the management. Croatia Airlines CEO, Krešimir Kučko, has publicly said that the carrier must shed some 200 employees if it is to carry through with its restructuring program.
Tamara Herceg, from the cabin crew union recently said, “Great pressure has been put on doctors and my colleagues who are showing up to work sick. Employee rights are also being trampled upon with the management cutting down on holidays and non working days. They are purposely assigning staff to do flights on their days off. Those who do not show up to work risk losing their jobs”. Cabin crew members have threatened they will go on strike, although such action would not affect the airline to a great extent due to strict industrial action laws. On May 1 and 2 a total of thirteen flights were cancelled due to crew failing to show up to work.
exYU aviation news in the past few days: Croatia-JAT-Croatia-JAT-Croatia-JAT-Adria-Croatia-JAT-Croatia-JAT-Adria.
ReplyDeleteI mean, come on.
Is it the problem of this blog that there isn't anything interesting in other republics? Serbia and Croatia are the biggest markets in Yugoslavia so it is only logical for them to have the most going on.
DeleteJAT, Croatia Airlines and Adria Airways are all shaky wrecks. All three are the reflection of such societies with reduced circumstances. When it comes to those 42 cabin crew members,...in a few words...easy to replace, actually the management was happy to get rid of excess workers.
DeleteNow...would I like to fly with Croatian following this?
ReplyDeleteWith the knowledge that even genuinely ill crew is scared to be off sick which jeopardises their performance at work and therefore passenger safety?
Bad move!
Good riddence to them!
ReplyDeletepretty dumb to go on strike or make some kind of labour action when your employer is publicly stating that they the need and intend to get rid of a significant portion of the workforce
ReplyDeleteor when Europe and Croatia is in recession with unemployment on the up and up.
DeleteI just feel sorry for any that were actually really sick on that day.
and this is the way actions like this should be treated, you simulate being sick = you are fired, as simple as only could be. They caused problems to the company, they made some flight being cancelled and other being delayed, they diserved to be fired. Now they can go to McDonalds or to supermarket where they will have better salaries and conditions of work. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteDoctor certificate + extra hard control of HZZO which did not show any illegal sick days + between those 42 are even 5 on pregnancy... that is not the way of doing business.
Delete13 flights in peak of a bank holiday, damn, you gonna get fired for that in any country. airline lost €325000 for this little stint, + costs of fuel, aircraft landing charges and other costs involved of aircraft being grounded.
ReplyDeleteWonder if anyone will give them a job now, they should have played this better, send their CVs to other major airlines and see how that goes, now no major airline will touch these 42, at least not in the EU and US/Canada.
The last thing they need is a unreliable staff, and after this rather public sacking all 42 ex-cabin crew will have next to nothing in getting a good job reference, they'll get one, he or she worked here, that's as much they can hope, enough for other airlines to read between the lines.
Always funny to read, we can't run 30 planes in ex-yu without shit and problems, Delta runes 722 with little problems world wide, such a shame that we are on the dumb side always.
ReplyDeleteJat numbers for April:
ReplyDeletePAX transported: 90.844 or -15.5% /04.2012
Flights operated: 1.292 or -9.1% /04.2012
It's all going downhill. Just now, the cabin crew and pilots announced a strike on Tuesday.
ReplyDelete