Royal Air Maroc trainee pilots announced they will hold a sit-in in front of the Casablanca headquarters of the national carrier on Thursday, as frictions with the company drag on.
The trainee pilots, whose case against RAM has been dominating headlines lately, “are protesting their suspension, which lasted for over 2 years,” while also demanding the carrier “retracts its lawsuit against some of the pilots.”
The coordination of future pilots has also refuted the carrier’s claims about compensation being the central matter of conflict.
The young trainees have been calling out RAM’s “silence and coercion” for months now, as the carrier suspended its contracts with the trainees, while also halting all financial compensation and social security coverage.
According to the coordination, the carrier has violated its promises to employ and integrate the pilots within its ranks, since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The students were encouraged to take out substantial loans to “finance their training for RAM, for which the carrier acted as a sponsor.” Since then, the pilots were asked to “sign contracts with other airlines,” in order to resume payments for their loans.
Faced with the trainees’ refusal, RAM proceeded to sue some of the trainees, requesting the court to drop the carrier’s sponsorship, all while demanding the students repay all loan installments RAM had covered.
Hespress AR spoke to a pilot from the carrier, who said the trainees’ storyline is incorrect, adding that “the dispute started on the basis of a compensation disagreement between the company and the trainees.”
According to the Hespress AR source, “RAM offered the trainee a monthly salary of MAD 50,000, which they declined, asking for MAD 70,000 instead.”
“The Royal Air Maroc group found itself unable to employ trainee pilots in the parent company due to the pandemic, which paralyzed the aviation sector across the world,” continued the source.
The airline then suggested that the trainees be employed in its Atlas Servair branch, a company managing the sales and maintenance of RAM planes, for the aforementioned proposed wage, which they reportedly refused, according to the pilot.
The source stated that “RAM’s offer includes, in addition to the monthly wage of MAD 50,000, various social rights and perks, namely health and social coverage, supplementary retirement and airline tickets, in addition to a guaranteed wage increase after 5 years.”
In a statement to Hespress EN, Eddamani says that “we trainee pilots are ready to work even without compensation if the company is really struggling financially,” adding that “RAM now claiming that our demands are financially motivated is misleading, our only request is the respect of contracts and of the dignity of trainee pilots.”
The coordination issued a press release following the carrier’s claims, “firmly refuting that pilots received alternative employment offers for Atlas Servair,” adding that “their only demand has always been, and will always be their inclusion to RAM as the carrier’s pilots, just like they were contractually promised.”
As the conflict between the trainee pilots and their carrier escalates, the coordination, which represents around 105 trainee pilots, is still calling for “dialogue with the carrier, and the intervention of relevant authorities,” to resolve their situation, which has already “lasted longer than it should.”
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