KLM pilots are quite willing to talk about wage moderation for the next five years. Willem Schmid, chairman of the Association of Dutch Airline Pilots (VNV), said so in the NOS Radio 1 News.
On Friday it became clear that the Ministry of Finance believes that the agreements that KLM made with the unions at the beginning of last month do not go far enough. In that deal, the airline and all unions reached an agreement on cutbacks until 2022. The ministry wants staff to surrender wages for three more years, so during the entire period that the company receives support from the government.
KLM has already received some of that support, but to get the rest of the € 3.4 billion in loans and guarantees, an agreement had to be reached on longer cuts on Saturday afternoon. That did not work.
‘We don’t sign a blank check’
Schmid: “On October 1, we had an agreement between KLM and the unions, for cuts for two years on average. But Friday was asked to sign the ‘term sheet’ between the government and KLM. This is a contract of which the term is unclear. is secret and the content is secret. This asked the unions to sign for a blank check. “
The president of the pilots association says that the proposed five years of cutbacks are not the problem for him. He says he has not signed yet because he wants to know exactly what has been agreed between KLM and the ministry. “Wage restraint for five years, something like that would be fine to agree. But that is quite different from signing for a contract that we do not have for an indefinite period.”
KLM was not yet available for a response. The Ministry of Finance already announced yesterday that it will not speak directly with the unions. “The ball is in the hands of KLM and the unions. The cabinet has made agreements with the KLM management and is involved in the discussion.”
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