Croatia Airlines' (CA) cabin crew and pilots unions continued their strike for the second day on Wednesday, demanding that their rights contained in the collective agreement valid until now be retained and claiming that they would not give in to having their incomes reduced, union reps said in front of CA headquarters.
CA management have invited the unions to a new round of negotiations and the unions say that management has decided to discuss their argument that a saving of HRK 7.5 million can already be achieved as some employees have left the company, which was not taken into account in the restructuring plan.
Cabin crews and pilots started their strike at 6 a.m. Tuesday and as a result the national air line has had to cancel 22 of today's flights while another 23 flights will be catered to with other air carriers.
About one hundred flight attendants and pilots gathered in front of CA headquarters and union reps told reporters that the financial problems in the airline were not caused by employees but were the result of management which had for years been generating losses and have brought the company to the brink of ruin.
"It's the same bunch of people who have just been rotating their positions for years", the vice president of the pilots' union Tomislav Gradisar said, adding that the same people that have brought the company to ruin could not possibly save the company, which has recorded more than a billion kuna in losses.
"People who have ruined this company, instead of being investigated by USKOK - the national anti-corruption body - have ended up with million kuna severance packages or in fact have been promoted in the company", Gradisar said.
A representative of the flight attendants said that stewardesses would remain on strike until their demands were met despite threats by Transport Minister Sinisa Hajdas Doncic that they would all be fired.
Minister Hajdas Doncic said on Tuesday that the strike was legitimate, however he called on the strikers to see reason as the company was facing bankruptcy.
