El Al pilots lose legal bid to overturn cockpit efficiency agreement

El Al’s pilots have lost a legal bid to invalidate an efficiency agreement for cockpit crews, which was reached in mid-July in the absence of pilots’ representatives. This agreement was one of several revising terms for several groups of El Al workers. The new pacts were a condition for the airline to obtain much-needed rescue funding. But while the Israeli trade union centre Histadrut had overseen the $105m pilots’ agreement, negotiated with the transport workers’ union, pilot representatives had not been present. El Al’s pilot committee subsequently filed a lawsuit with Tel Aviv’s regional labour court, stating that the agreement was not valid. But El Al says the court issued a ruling on 20 October “rejecting” the pilots’ claim. Histadrut transport workers’ union chair Avi Edri welcomed the ruling, stating that the judge “praised the decision” of Histadrut chairman Arnon Bar-David to sign the original deal, and remarked that it had helped save the airline. “It is important to remember that beyond [the ruling] is El Al – one of the most important companies in Israel’s economy and aviation industry – whose complete collapse has been avoided,” he states.<br/>