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By Libya Herald reporter.
Tripoli, 20 March 2016:
A strike by handling and catering staff which stopped Libya Airlines and Afriqiyah Airways flights . . .[restrict]today has been suspended just after it started following promises by the airlines’ joint holding company to pay back-salaries .
Following the launch of the strike at 6am this morning, officials from Libyan African Aviation Holding Company (LAFHC), which owns the Libyan Company for Ground Handling and the Libyan Company for Air Catering as well as Afriqiyah Airways and Libyan Airlines, met with the General Union of Air Transport Workers to try resolve the problem and end the stand off.
“We have suspended the strike for two weeks,” union head Abdussalam Al-Tamimi told the Libya Herald. “The company agreed to pay the staff.”
Some 2,500 staff employed by the handling company and 700 by the catering company say they have not been paid for eight months. They also want health insurance cover.
If the back payments are not made within a fortnight, Tamimi says there be a full strike.
The strike suspended this afternoon was partial: from 6am to 2am. It had full effect, however. Tripoli’s Mitiga airport was largely deserted this morning even though independent carriers Buraq Air and Libyan Wings were not affected.
Last week, Libyan Airlines claimed that it would be badly affected by the strike which was not of its own making and in which none of its employees were talking part. It warned that that its income would be hit and its remaining cash reserves drained because it would have to pay refunds to customers for cancelled flights.
Employees of Libyan Airlines in the west of the country, however, say that they have not been paid for three months, although those in the east have been paid regularly.
The current strike was supposed to start on 13 March, but was postponed by the union to give further opportunities to the employers to pay the money owning.
This is far from the first time this has happened. Last year, the same handling and catering staff went on strike over unpaid salaries. It had the effect of forcing the employers to pay up. [/restrict]
