Speaking to the Lusa agency, the president of the Pilots' Union, Miguel Prata, said that the membership level is 100 percent, with members demonstrating at Luanda's international airport at this time.
Miguel Prata mentioned that the eight-point claim book was delivered in June this year, and since then the parties have been at the negotiating table several times, focusing on the first point only, on the salary readjustment, without having agreement has been reached.
"There are two moments that are worth highlighting here: we never asked for a salary increase, we asked for a pay readjustment, we wanted to be paid differently. TAAG saw fit to make an increase – it is logical that our readjustment, this also has to be said, in the form of payment would imply an increase in payment, but we only asked for this based on the information we received from the company that we would work hard", said.
According to Miguel Prata, what the affiliates, in a total of 114 pilots, intend is "to change the base salary".
"We have a base salary and variable hours, we wanted to change this form of payment and increase the base salary to have stability. We tried to establish bridges, bring positions closer together, and there came a point where TAAG said it was impossible", he said.
The trade unionist pointed out that, based on the information about the company, the employer's response is not acceptable.
"Based on information about the company, we work here, we think it's possible, although the administration says no, and we're at an impasse. To give you an idea, there are tickets that TAAG practices that are superior to pilot work, we found a contradiction", he underlined.
Miguel Prata stressed that the stoppage is total, stressing that the Strike Law does not allow minimum services for this case, "unless there are catastrophes, military support, which is not the case".
"By the way, the Strike Law itself does not provide for replacement and TAAG is already incurring irregularities, illegalities at the moment. legality, because Angola is a country with laws and the laws must be complied with. The strike law does not provide for the replacement of strikers, therefore, we cannot understand how the aeronautical entities foresee this replacement", he highlighted.
This week, the parties met from Monday to Thursday, but they did not reach an agreement, so, added the president of the Pilots' Union of Angola, the strike was "the last resort".
