Following the announcement of a strike by TACV Cabo Verde Airline’s flight crew personnel, the directorship of the country’s national carrier held a press conference Thursday in which, among other things, it said that due to the situation of de-facto bankruptcy the company has been facing for some time, the administrative council “cannot and must not meet the demands of the employees, as it would mean closing TACV’s doors.” In the face of this position, all of TACV’s regional and international flights between 12:01 am Friday, January 14 and midnight Sunday, January 16 have been grounded. Inter-island flights within Cape Verde will operate with one flight crew members each. The strike coincides with the arrival in Cape Verde of Brazil’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and could affect his flight from Sal to Praia.

The tug-of-war between TACV’s administration on one side and flight crew personnel and the union representing them on the other continues. After labor union Sitthur announced the three-day work stoppage – justifying the strike, among other things, with the administration’s intransigent refusal to increase wages or lower crew members’ weekly time load – the company’s administrative council called a press conference to say that “despite the efforts developed toward arriving at an accord, it was impossible to avoid the strike,” as an increase in wages would only aggravate the carrier’s financial situation further.
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According to administrative council president João Higino, “with the current wage levels and work schedule, TACV is experiencing serious difficulty competing on the international plane. And further wage increases, particularly in the current atmosphere of total market liberalization, can only aggravate the situation.” Higino added that TACV’s flight personnel receive higher-than-average salaries, and that with the raise being called for “a junior flight crew member would earn 89,000 escudos a month, and a senior cabin crew chief would earn 160,000 escudos, which is nearly the salary of a director of a government ministry department.”
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With the strike, TACV will have to swallow a bitter 110,000,000-escudo pill “in revenues alone” and wait for the next chapter in the story. According to Sitthur president Carlos Lopes, “this process will not end on January 16. It will only end when we arrive at a negotiated understanding that satisfies the interests of both sides rather than the impositions of TACV. As of January 16, we’ll begin carrying out consultations and discuss other actions to be developed.”
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The strike was called in protest to TACV administration’s refusal to readjust the salary structure of flight crew personnel despite the increase in their time load by more than 57%, implement the cabin crew career plan approved in 2000 and to grant overtime pay for work carried out on days off, holidays and night shifts.
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Among the first consequences of the strike could be the impossibility of Brazilian Foreign Affairs Minister Celso Amorim traveling from Sal to Praia, where he has a tight schedule of meetings on the agenda for Friday. This is Amorim’s first official visit to Cape Verde, and the Brazilian cabinet minister will be accompanied by a 35-person delegation.