Ailing SIA, pilots broker deal to end pay dispute

Gail Wan, Agence France-Presse, Singapore

Singapore Airlines (SIA) pilots will take pay cuts of up to 24 percent under a deal with management announced on Monday that paves the way for salaries to be restored when the ailing company returns to profit.

SIA management and the Air Line Pilots Association-Singapore (ALPA-S) told the Independent Arbitration Commission (IAC) they had agreed for captains' salaries to be slashed by 16.5 percent and first officers to lose 11 percent of their pay.

The pilots union also agreed their 1,600 SIA members would take up to two days of unpaid leave a month.

ALPA-S spokesman P. James said the total package meant captains would take a 24 percent pay cut, while first officers would lose up to 18 percent.

The agreement was a compromise from SIA management's initial demands for a 22.5 percent wage cut for captains and 15 percent for first officers.

Management had also wanted the pilots to take between 10 and 12 days of unpaid leave, which the ALPA-S had said would have meant pay cuts of as much as 50 percent.

Under the deal, which was brokered on Friday but announced when the IAC began a hearing to resolve the dispute, the wage cuts can be restored if SIA turns around its dismal financial performance of recent months.

The cuts will be fully restored if SIA makes S$500 million (US$284 million) in the financial year that begins on Tuesday.

The salaries will be beefed up on a pro-rata basis, with one quarter of the cuts given back if SIA makes $200 million, through to a 15 percent pay rise from the original salaries if the company records a $600-million profit.

"I would like to take this opportunity to extend the company's appreciation to the leadership (of ALPA-S) for their support, understanding and co-operation in working out this agreement," SIA human resources senior vice president Loh Meng See told the IAC on Monday.