Page 16 - Ulpanor E-Tone(02-14-17) Advanced Level

E-Tone™: Ulpan-Or Weekly News Digest

Item #3 (Advanced Level)

Problems at El-Al

The battle between El-Al’s management and the pilots’ union is heating up
again. This time the pilots’ retirement age is being addressed. They’re
supposed to retire at the age of sixty seven, but are forced to stop flying
already at sixty five according to regulations. Until now, those pilots
moved to being simulator instructors or (doing) administrative work, but
continued to get a pilot’s salary. But starting this month the management
cut (these) salaries by at least a third. As a result of the conflict,
disruptions in the company’s flights were felt all along the week. The
highpoint came last night with the cancelation of flights to New York,
Boston and Moscow. This morning another flight to New York was
cancelled, as well as the afternoon flights to London, Madrid and Warsaw.
El-Al’s Facebook page was filled with complaints by angry passengers,
“El-Al has become a charter company,” one of them writes, “flights are
cancelled at the last minute with no regard for passengers.” But tension is
also rising among the company employees themselves, for each flight to
New York getting cancelled the flight attendants lose a significant chunk
of their salary. Another negotiating meeting is supposed to take place
tonight, hoping that no more passengers would be hurt by then.

Page 16 - Edition 02-14-17

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