06RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Thursday, June 4th, Gol airline flight staff (attendants and crew) approved the proposed collective bargaining agreement that includes the possibility of joining voluntary programs of unpaid leave, dismissal (PDV), retirement or “part-time” work (with a 50 percent reduction in working hours and salary).
For those who fail to join voluntarily, there will be two programs of compulsory reduction of working hours and salary, which will be in force until 2021. The proposals presented by the company were disclosed by the SNA (National Flight Staff Union).
“We also stress that the counterpart to the agreements is the guarantee of employment, which prohibits any dismissal without just cause during the effective period,” says the SNA.
According to Gol, the measure, which may become a standard for other companies in the sector, covers Gol’s 926 pilots, 964 copilots and 3,262 flight attendants.
According to the documents, the voluntary dismissal and retirement programs will be available for accession until June 15th. The unpaid leave and part-time work will be limited to three months, starting in July and renewable once for the same period of time.
Compulsory programs apply to all employees who have not joined the voluntary programs.
The lists of those eligible for the compulsory programs will be finalized after the end of the adhesion period for the voluntary programs and published by June 30th, according to the union.
“We thank our employees who took part in this vote and for being together with the Company at this very delicate moment and also the National Flight Crew Union, which has proved to be fully committed to finding the best solutions”, said Celso Ferrer, Vice President of Gol Operations in a note.
The current high exchange rate and low demand scenario has negatively impacted the three major players in the aviation sector in Brazil.
The Latam group, which filed for judicial reorganization in the United States in late May, is the most dependent on international routes, which experienced the greatest contraction.
The companies should be aided by BNDES (National Bank of Economic and Social Development), which provided R$2 billion per company, deemed insufficient to prevent the companies from collapsing.
Source: Folhapress