Czech Airlines (ČSA) seeks broad union talks to end pilots’ dispute.

Management at Czech Airlines (ČSA) called for broad talks with unions on Monday aimed at ending a bitter dispute with pilots

Bosses at Czech national carrier Czech Airlines (ČSA) called for broad talks with unions Monday aimed at ending a dispute with pilots sparked by the spinning off of a third of the aircraft fleet to a charter company.

ČSA management called the meeting with the airline’s main union, the Union of Czech Airlines Aircraft Crews (OOPL), saying other unions could also attend. The meeting is aimed at breaking a deadlock with the pilots following a breakdown in talks with their main association, CZALPA.

CZALPA pilots on Friday offered to cut their wages on condition that management immediately launches a search for a strategic partner and meets other demands related to an increasingly bitter stand-off with management. The pilots say the temporary cut in wages would save Kč 50 million in 2012, buying the struggling carrier more time to try and find a partner.

“The condition for such an agreement would be the immediate search for a strategic investor with the deadline for a sale in 2012, the normal participation of CZALPA in this process, and the immediate stop to transfer of aircraft from the flag carrier and repressive actions against individual employees and their representatives,” CZALPA president Peter Žmolík said in a statement.

Žmolík underlined that ČSA pilots already agreed a 30 percent wage cut when a restructuring program was agreed with management.

Airline management refused the offer, saying that the offer was “virtual” and would interrupt the ongoing restructuring. Recent disruptive e action by airline pilots had already cost the carrier tens of millions, the airline added in a statement.

Miroslav Dvořak, the head of holding company Český Aeroholding, which now manages both ČSA and the state airports company, said on Czech public television on Sunday that there was less than a 50:50 chance of finding a strategic partner for the airline in 2012.

Negotiations were taking place with an unnamed partner but the partner was waiting to see if the results of the ongoing restructuring would bear fruit, he said. Dvořak added that losses for the airline this year could rise to as high as Kč 300 million.

The dispute between CZALPA and ČSA was sparked by the management’s announcement that 11 aircraft, including all of its regional planes, would be transferred to its charter unit Holidays Czech Airlines with around 100 pilots’ jobs at the scheduled carrier being lost as a result. Pilots from the association have maintained a strike alert following an initial stay away from work by pilots with days off and “sickness.”

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