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SriLankan pilots continue ‘Fly the Roster’ campaign amidst management silence 

18 Feb 2022

  • Cite lack of discussion on issues such as alleged contractual violations 
BY Pamodi Waravita  The Airline Pilots’ Guild of Sri Lanka (ALPGSL) said yesterday (17) that it is continuing its “Fly the Roster” campaign, as the SriLankan Airlines management has not been forthcoming with discussions about their grievances.  “We will continue this campaign as the management has not been forthcoming with discussions,” the guild told The Morning yesterday.  The ALPGSL commenced the latest “Fly the Roster” campaign on 4 February, claiming that the management had failed to provide suitable solutions to their grievances, as promised on 31 January 2022.  “Some of the pertinent issues include contractual violations on the part of the management. The ‘Fly the Roster’ campaign essentially means that a crew member will work according to the published roster or schedule that he/she is provided with every month. The airline has been able to manage crew shortages by requesting pilots to fly during annual leave and on their designated off days or to accept changes in their published rosters. The pilot body frequently accepted these changes and helped the company readily by going above and beyond the duty required of them. During the ‘Fly the Roster’ campaign, however, pilots will refuse to fly on their off-days and also not accept changes to the published roster,” the ALPGSL claimed in a statement issued on 7 February. The ALPGSL initially initiated the “Fly the Roster” campaign on 18 December 2021 after – the statement mentioned – many official written requests went unanswered. On 21 December 2021, this initial campaign was suspended by the ALPGSL when the management officially communicated that all grievances brought forward will be resolved by 31 January 2022 if the “Fly the Roster” campaign was suspended. “However, although the campaign was promptly suspended by the ALPGSL in good faith, it was regrettable to note that no suitable solutions were provided by the management on the date stipulated (31 January 2022). This has led to the campaign being re-initiated until all grievances are resolved. It is regrettable that the show of good faith displayed last December by the ALPGSL by implicitly accepting the assurances of the management and calling off the campaign seems to have been taken advantage of with no positive resolutions as promised,” the statement concluded. Attempts by The Morning to contact SriLankan Airlines Media Spokesman Deepal Perera regarding the matter proved futile.  


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