Following a number of El Al flights were disrupted when pilots failed to show up due to ongoing labor disputes, the Tel Aviv district labor court issued a temporary injunction instructing the Histadrut labor federation and the representatives of El Al employees to rescind any directives calling for the disruption of El Al flights.
El Al management has recently been faced with what it describes as "deliberate non-availability of the pilots."
Company management asserts that the pilots' unwillingness to man and carry out certain flights is harming the company and its customers. The pilots argue that they are not conducting sanctions; what is involved, according to Nir Tzuk, a pilot and chairman of the El Al Air Pilot Association, is a severe, genuine, and alarming shortage of pilots, especially first officers, for several months.
The Tel Aviv district labor court instructed the labor representative to ensure that there is no further labor unrest and barred any of El Al’s pilots from engaging in any kind of labor sanctions.
A senior El Al pilot told that the disruptions in the flight schedules in the past were the result of a shortage of senior pilots, particularly on flights using Boeing 747 and 777 aircraft, and warned that the disruptions could continue.
