Praia, July 22, 2024 (Lusa) - Cabo Verde's General Directorate of Labour (DGT) has called a conciliation meeting for Wednesday between the government, the management of the airline TACV and the pilots' union, which has announced a six-day strike.
According to information from the DGT to which Lusa has had access, the tripartite meeting is being held as part of the strike notice given by the pilots of international flights of Transportes Aéreos de Cabo Verde (TACV) between 27 July and 1 August.
The strike was initially scheduled to start on 24 July (Wednesday), but the DGT warned the pilots that the notice had to be handed in at least seven days in advance and they were forced to postpone the start of the strike until three days later.
Cabo Verde's DGT will hold the meeting as an ‘attempt at conciliation/mediation’, with a view to overcoming existing conflicts between the parties.
In April, the 32 international pilots of Cabo Verde's public airline announced a six-day strike, but they reached an agreement with the company and called it off.
However, they noted that the government has ‘backed down’ on materialising the agreements, and they intend to go ahead with the strike.
‘Despite the various negotiations that have taken place since April (...), all the demands that formed the basis of the strike notice announced in April 2024 are still unanswered,’ the president of the National Union of Civil Aviation Pilots, Admilson Aguiar, told a press conference last week.
The union said the commitments made by the company's management ‘were nothing more than delaying manoeuvres’ and is, therefore, threatening to sue the company.
The union's 12 demands include issues related to operational safety, delays in processing salaries, the lack of a safety programme, health protection and hygiene at work, a reduction in allowances, and the cancellation of medical appointments.
TACV operates under the trade name Cabo Verde Airlines (CVA) and operates international flights to Portugal, France and Italy.
In February, it leased two ATR aircraft to save the domestic routes after the concessionaire Bestfly left the country. However, despite an overall improvement in service, there are still several complaints about shortcomings in the operation.
The company's new president is economist Pedro Barros, who replaced Sara Pires.
RIPE/ADB // ADB.
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