After the creation of a non-striking staff collective at Air Tahiti demanding an “immediate stop” to the movement, the strikers stepped up their response. Titaina Viriamu of the Commercial Flight Crew Union, allied with CSIP, describes the strike as inevitable after discussions carried out for years that had yielded nothing. She acknowledges that mobilization is limited—about 2.9% of the workforce according to the collective—but believes it is enough to have “an impact.” This, she says, pushes the management to “deploy a manager to break the strike.” The talks, halted on Saturday, are to resume after the organization of an extraordinary board meeting.
Titaina Viriamu, secretary-general of the Syndicate of Commercial Flight Crew (Spencat), was not surprised to learn that a non-striking collective had formed at Air Tahiti. The group, named Te Natiraa, which says it gathered in under 24 hours more than 230 employees, calls for the immediate stop of the movement, denouncing a hostage-taking of the population by only 2.9% of the company’s employees who are on strike. Priscilla Roller, who initiated the collective and serves as its spokesperson, asserts that the demands could be pursued outside of a strike and questions why the strikers do not worry about the heavy consequences for the company in terms of image and customer trust. Internal discussions had already taken place on a private Facebook group for Air Tahiti employees, which had alerted Titaina Viriamu.
Our demands have been carried for years
Regarding the call for an immediate end to the strike, the secretary-general of Spencat, allied with CSIP, responds that “the strike is a constitutional right” and she asserts that their demands had been carried for years in discussions with management but that “nothing came of it”. Priscilla Roller of the non-striking collective reminded that only 50 people out of Air Tahiti’s 1,750 staff were officially on strike, meaning the movement was ultimately lightly supported. “The demands concern certain professional categories. They cannot concern, for example, managers. Priscilla Roller is a manager and head of department. The strike does not involve her department. Air Tahiti employees may not all agree with those who are striking, but they do not necessarily agree with her collective. And many people who join her collective do so because they are exhausted.”, answers Titaina Viriamu.
The secretary-general of Spencat acknowledges that mobilization is limited—a little over fifty strikers, i.e. 2.9% of Air Tahiti’s 1,750 staff, as tallied by the collective—but says it is enough to have “an impact.” This, in her view, pushes “the management to deploy a manager to break the strike.” “I believe these 3% are essential to keeping the operation running.”
Titaina Viriamu suspects the strike “is not popular” and especially not with Priscilla Roller, who heads Customer Service and Loyalty at Air Tahiti and is thus on the front lines responding to unhappy customers since the movement began about a fortnight ago. Regarding the financial consequences of the movement for the company, which is already in distress, the unionist blames management, pointing to poor choices that have also cost dearly and to a stubborn reluctance to concede to their demands, ultimately “placing the company’s losses on the backs of the strikers.”
The proposals are null and void
Regarding the discussions, Titaina Viriamu says Air Tahiti’s management announced on Saturday, at the last meeting, that “everything they had proposed was null and void. An extraordinary board meeting would be convened and there would be no discussions before then.” In a letter addressed to management, the unionist asserts that SPencat has made “numerous concessions” and “proposed alternatives” on several of their requests, “with the aim of reaching a resolution to the conflict”, and asks to stop “implying that the flight crews are blocking any progress.”
