Three El Al flights canceled amid anger over aging pilots’ wages

Three overnight international flights from Israel were canceled late Saturday as the Israeli airline El Al continues to fight with its pilots’ union over benefits to aging pilots.

The flights to New York, Moscow and Boston were canceled at the last moment, along with two cargo flights.

The airline said in a statement the cancellations happened because pilots were continuing to strike despite an agreed-upon wage framework that averted a strike last month.

The pilots threatened to strike over reduced wages to pilots older than 65, who are too old to fly under international regulations but are not yet eligible for pensions as Israeli labor laws allow retirement only at 67.

Ofer Aloni, a pilots’ union spokesman, insisted the pilots were not striking on Sunday, but simply refused to fly beyond their contractual requirements, indicated the flights had been charters.

A court-approved agreement put the wages of the pilots in those last two years at some 34 percent of their regular wages, Army Radio reported Sunday.

“There shouldn’t be any confusion about this,” Aloni told Army Radio late Saturday. “We flew every flight we were assigned to, but with these unscheduled flights” – a reference to the three canceled overnight flights – “I have no motivation to go beyond [contractual requirements] when aging pilots are thrown to the garbage.”