Employees of Ethiopian Airlines has protested against the recent salary increment made by the management for all airline employees.
At the annual staff meeting held on Tuesday at the Millennium Conference Hall some employees of the airline complained that the salary increases were not even. The management made a 100% to 180% rise to members of the cockpit crew and 15% to 35% to other employees, the highest amount went to aircraft technicians.
Employees of the airline told the management and the board members that the increment was not as much as anticipated and that it was “unfair”. Syoum Mesfin, board chairman of Ethiopian, attended the meeting that took almost four hours. Some technicians complained that the management made more than 100% increase increment for the pilots while the technicians got only a 35% raise.
Other employees from marketing and other departments have also complained because they received a 15% increment. Some years back dozens of Ethiopian pilots fled to the Middle East to take advantage of the high salaries and high demand from the carriers in the region. In recent years Ethiopian managed to significantly reduce the exodus of pilots by making successive salary increments. However it seems the technicians are following suit and are migrating to the middle east in large numbers. Up to 10 senior technicians announced they were leaving the airline in one go. The management of Ethiopian is trying to avert the situation.
The outgoing Ethiopian CEO, Girma Wake, said that the management made salary increments to all its employees in the past five consecutive years adding that management is trying its best to make employees of the airline happy. According to him the airline ordered 40 state of the art new aircraft and the airline needs to pay for the new jetliners on a regular basis. “The jetliners are bought with loans and these loans should be serviced. A huge sum is paid every time to service these loans,” Girma said. However, he said the airline will make salary increment based on the financial status of the company.
The designate CEO, Tewolde Gebremariam, last week gave similar explanations to the technicians in a meeting called by the technicians association.