Don’t split the national airline |31 March 2022
On behalf of all Air Seychelles pilots, both at domestic fleet and international fleet, and engineers who have been affected by the pay cut since March 2020, we would like to set the record straight and correct all misinterpretations arising from the Air Seychelles saga that started beginning of November 2020 after the new government came into power.
One hundred and two (102) staff working with the national airline for several years were affected by a direct pay cut from their gross salaries of 50% to 67% depending on their experience and seniority in the company.
This does not include the loss of earnings we incurred during currency fluctuation of the US dollar as many staff were paid allowances in US dollar due to the nature and location of their jobs.
It has been exactly two years since we took this pay cut and until now there is no sign that our original salaries will be reinstated. This has tremendously affected our livelihoods and families’ wellbeing.
We have been told by the Air Seychelles management that the shareholder (government of Seychelles) is not willing to support the national airline and therefore if one of its business units ie domestic or international operations is not profitable, to close it down.
To be precise the government of Seychelles is planning on splitting the national airline into three business units ‒ ground services, domestic operations and international operations. They are only planning to support and keep the ground operations as it is still a monopoly. What will happen to the other two units? To shut it down or let it dig its own hole and shut itself down.
What will happen to the staff affected? Nobody knows and this has sent shockwaves among all staff including pilots, engineers etc.
How did our national airline end up where it is today after 45 years in the aviation industry? Historically Air Seychelles has been operating as one business unit and for many years since it started operations Air Seychelles’ operation was a monopoly. To date the ground services and cargo handling are still a monopoly. With the unrestricted open skies policy that the Seychelles government started with other major airlines such as Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways, to name but a few which have much bigger financial resources, they stole our market share in the industry and the government never protected its own national airline. This is one of the major causes for failure of the national airline. This led Air Seychelles to venture into the lucrative charter business to keep it afloat. Some may argue it was the previous government’s blunders and not the present administration. For the professionals who have been giving 100% of their hard work every time for many years to keep our national airline as one of the top five safest airlines in Africa, it makes no difference as to who is in power.
Even in recent times, the government gave more access to other airlines to tap into our now remaining small market share. So how on earth will Air Seychelles, the national carrier of Seychelles, ever survive? This is the BIG question that no politician or statesmen want to answer. But the people of Seychelles must know the truth and ask why this government does not wish to support the national airline.
The new saga began when the new government came to power after making promises to the people of Seychelles and staff of Air Seychelles that they will reorganise, restructure, place good management team, invest in the country’s professionals, give the airline a clean slate and make it profitable once again. But then the president threw us at the mercy of the public opinion and Air Seychelles became a debatable topic in the National Assembly. Those top government civil servants who openly criticised Air Seychelles are the same people who were once either board members of the national airline or had direct influence on its financial decisions. Why didn’t they blow the whistle then?
So now the national airline becomes a political football kicked around by politicians without realising that they are playing with the livelihoods of staff members and their families.
Air Seychelles used to play a key role in the country’s tourism industry for many years but recently it has been neglected, ridiculed, criticised and thrown under the bus, but the hard working staff still rise to the occasion.
In 2020, Covid-19 hit the airline industry and Air Seychelles was also affected badly by effects of the pandemic. With the little resources we have we still rose to the occasion and when no other airline was flying into Seychelles, it was Air Seychelles that flew in emergency medication, food and other essential machinery and personnel to support our fishing industry, we also brought our Seychellois brothers and sisters back home.
During the pandemic, the government of Seychelles decided to help with salary support with FA4JR temporarily until a solution was found and implemented. More than 102 staff were affected and were told in order to save the airline they have to cut our salary by 50-60%.
We accepted in good faith. This was done in several temporary variations of contract that has now ended with a proposed PERMANENT variation of our contracts. The acting Air Seychelles management has even attempted a redundancy which failed and cost the company more money and it has no sense of accountability as when asked who is responsible it claimed we “learn and move on”.
In December 2021 we grieved against the new temporary variation of contract and was told by Air Seychelles lawyer Bernard George that if we do not sign the contract by 4pm the next day we would all be terminated. Once again we signed the variation under protest and we were told that fair negotiations would take place before the next proposal expected in March 2022. A proposal was made to us on March 3, 2022 through an Air Seychelles head of human resource, now in the form of a consultant, Japha Ally, telling us that we would have to sign PERMANENT variations to our contract and everyone would start at a much lower basic salary regardless of your years of service. To have our voice heard we had no choice but to seek help of a workers’ union and legal aid, otherwise we risked being terminated.
The administrators of Air Seychelles negotiated with the bond holders, the debt that was created when Etihad Airways was managing Air Seychelles, and eventually ended up with a haircut of the debt to $27.8 million. The government of Seychelles had previously committed to pay all debts and give Air Seychelles a clean slate. But this promise was not kept and government of Seychelles now wants Air Seychelles to pay its debts on its own. Air Seychelles saved more than R21 million just over one year by cutting staff salaries and is now going to use this to pay off part of the debt. Note that the administrators do not want Air Seychelles to split in three separate units as this will surely lead to the closure of domestic and international operations. Is the shareholder (government of Seychelles) pushing for this?
Air Seychelles belongs to the people of Seychelles with the government of Seychelles as its only shareholder and owner and not to individuals who wish to use these entities for their political gain and advantage at the sacrifice of others. The president who just over a year ago was the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly and he stood by the values and the importance the airline has for the country and employment opportunities it provides for our professionals, but is now at the centre of dividing the company into separate units and risk closing down part of the company. Air Seychelles is a symbol of pride and a milestone achievement for the country which has sadly been used as a political tool for many years.
There are many returning graduates from flight schools and universities who are presently working at Air Seychelles and some who may never have the opportunity to join the airline to pursue their dream which has been financed by taxpayers’ money. If the government wants Air Seychelles to be independent and not receive assistance then it should not interfere with the internal affairs and operation of the company. If Air Seychelles operates as one company and not divided into separate units there is a possibility of receiving a more favourable contract for the period during restructuring.
At this moment in time we are disappointed in the effort the government has made to support us and lift up our spirit in the same way that we keep the Creole spirit flying high.
The mindset of politicians and lawmakers mindsets stating “Be satisfied with the fact you have been able to keep your job” as if we are responsible for the mismanagement and financial crisis of the company is unprofessional and not acceptable. This is another example of the common people (malere) paying the price of others who have driven this company into the ground and leave the pieces for staff to pick up and try to salvage whatever is left. Is this the change that was promised?
The government has a moral responsibility towards each individual, like the popular saying goes ‘Sesel pour tou son zanfan’, but it seems Seychelles is only for the elite and civil servants in high government posts. We made several attempts to meet with the president and shareholders but nobody is interested in engaging with the staff of Air Seychelles but rather leave the company defenseless to other carriers which will only accelerate its downfall along with the families that depend on this company for their livelihoods.
The question we would like to ask:
1. Why is it that hard working professionals like us are suddenly made responsible for paying these debts created by past or present government blunders? Who is responsible?
2. Why can’t the government of Seychelles offer a salary support for staff until restructuring is completed? Let us remind the government that we also pay tax.
3. Why is it that the government of Seychelles is forcing the separation of the company when it knows it is not the best solution for Air Seychelles to survive?
4. More than 102 staff members accepted in good faith and sacrificed their salaries for two years to date and the shareholder (government of Seychelles) promised the staff that it was a temporary solution and salaries will be reinstated. When will our salaries be reinstated?
Lastly, Air Seychelles issued a press communique on March 26, 2022 stating that “salary revision and structure of staff salaries for five-year plan are being finalised and will take effect on April 1, 2022.”
Publicising such statement while negotiations are ongoing and before negotiations have concluded, seriously prejudices and jeopardises the ongoing negotiations. We hope that the media maintains a fair and unbiased approach in its reporting.
Unilaterally stating when the revised scheme will take effect prejudices the ongoing negotiations and its outcome. This expresses a callous disregard for the mutual consent that is a necessity prior to entering into an agreement/employment contract/revised scheme, specifically that of the employees who are currently in the process of negotiating/renegotiating the terms of our revised scheme.
We therefore have no choice but to come to the media as this is one of the few last choices we have to make our voice heard.
All affected staff at Air Seychelles
Disclaimer
The views expressed in this letter do not necessarily represent the views of the Seychelles NATION newspaper.