Sri Lankan Airlines signs wage deal with aircraft technicians

Feb 08, 2011 (LBO) - SriLankan Airlines has signed a new three-year wage agreement with the union representing aircraft technicians, as it expands its fleets and seeks more aircraft maintenance business, a statement said. Talks are also going on with the Flight Attendants Union and the Association of Licensed Aircraft Engineers (ALAE), the other employee union at SriLankan Engineering, the statement said. The collective agreement was signed with the SriLankan Airlines Aircraft Technicians Association (SAATA) with talks facilitated by the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon.

The agreement with SAATA covers a period from June 01, 2010 to May 31, 2013, and is the fifth in a series of agreements with SAATA which began in 1999.

It covers a wide range of areas such as salary scales, promotions, increments, allowances, incentives, overtime, rosters, and leave entitlements, the statement said.

SriLankan Engineering, the aircraft Maintenance-Repair-Overhaul (MRO) arm of SriLankan Airlines, has in recent years carried out major contracts for airlines such as India’s IndiGo and GoAir, and Pakistan’s Airblue.

It is currently in discussions with several other airlines in South Asia and the Middle East, the state