By Ajnadin Mustafa.
Tripoli, 3 February 2016:
The management of Libyan airlines has warned unions that if they go on strike they will . . .[restrict]sue them.
Staff in three unions on Saturday threatened to start action on 10 February if the de facto split in management between Tripoli and Benghazi was not brought to an end.
In its statement yesterday, the carrier’s management in Tripoli said that it “remained committed to providing services to all its customers”. It agreed that staff had the right to protest but that this did not extend to going on strike. It would, it said, “take all measures and legal procedures” to protect its own position and “the rights of our customers”.
The unions have since called for a meeting with the Tripoli management.
According to a Libyan Airlines pilot in Benghazi who was opposed to the split in management and did not want to be named, union officials had not contacted members in the east about the proposed action.
“We don’t know what’s going on,” he said. “Tripoli is working separately”. As a result, he did not think that eastern members would join any strike.
He also suggested that the current Libyan crisis was behind the call for a strike. “They are involving airlines in politics”, he said. [/restrict]
