The Ethiopian Airlines Board of Directors, on October 26, 2006, saw the replacement of three labour representatives who had served on the Board for the past five years.

In accordance to elections that are held every five years, the employees voted-in were Reta Melaku and Theodros Balcha, both instructors from the Aviation Maintenance Training School (AMTS) and Alemayehu Assefa, IT System and operation manager.

They replace outgoing representatives Biniam Hirabo, director of Spray Service; Matewos Menu, director of Material Management and Girma Kumbi, a foreman in Aircraft Maintenance.

The election, which was organized by the Human Resources Department, took place at the Ethiopian Conference Centre on Algeria Avenue in Sidist Kilo.

A source from the Ethiopian Airlines Labour Union told Fortune that anyone that has worked with the Airline for a reasonable length of time and has good knowledge on the working environment of the entire operation in addition to their own line of responsibility are eligible for nomination.
 

The three outgoing representatives came to the job with more than 20 years of work experience with Ethiopian.

Matewos told Fortune that during the five years that he and his colleagues served on the 11-member Board - chaired by Seyoum Mesfin, Minister of Foreign Affairs - they had been able to play an important role in achieving a 20pc growth in the Airlines’ profit and also managed to secure a 60pc salary increase for its employees over the span of two years. A 40pc raise was given in the fiscal year 2003 – 2004 and a 20pc increase in 2004 -2005.

He claimed that the Board was also responsible for having Ethiopian awarded the Best Airline Performance in Africa by The Africa Aviation Journal in 2006 and moreover oversaw the construction of the new cargo terminal from November 2003 to January 2006, as well as approved the purchase of the five Boeing Dreamliner aircrafts.
 

“We have fulfilled all of this during the past five years, which were the best performance years in the Airline’s history. We leave our positions very much delighted,” Matewos said.

The labour representatives on the Board serve as a managing body and are involved in handling large scale employee cases and incidents.

The Labour Union handles cases concerning labour rights and privileges. It ensures employee safety provision while on the job and  salary increment. The union has 10 executive members and 10 general assembly members, with a reshuffle held every three years.

A member of the Union told Fortune that when  conflicts of interest between them and the management arises; he said that in such incidents, they can call on the Board to find a resolution to the matter at hand.

An Ethiopian Airlines staff member told Fortune that he believed that more ideas can be received from the new representatives, because two of them are instructors who interact with a wide spectrum of employees.

Also, this employee said, Theodros has been a member of the Labour Union this has proved himself to be a responsible worker. He said that he also felt confident because all three members were socially very active with the employees as well as the management.

Ethiopian Airlines was founded in 1945 and currently has 4,762 employees working in Ethiopia alone.