The National Aeronauts Union (SNA) hosted a YouTube livestream on 26 November to present management’s latest collective-bargaining proposal for flight crews at Omni Táxi Aéreo, Brazil’s leading offshore-helicopter operator serving the pre-salt oil basin. Non-union pilots had until noon on 27 November to join and secure voting rights; electronic balloting is scheduled for 28 November.
Omni employs nearly 500 cockpit and cabin personnel who shuttle engineers and equipment to Petrobras, Shell and Equinor drilling platforms. Key negotiation points include a 6.8 percent salary adjustment tied to IPCA inflation, higher per-diems for night shifts on offshore platforms and expanded mental-health support after a spike in fatigue-related leave.
![Offshore-Helicopter Pilots Weigh New Contract as Union Livestreams Offer Details]()
Why does this matter beyond the rotary-wing niche? Fixed-wing carriers often benchmark offshore agreements when setting allowances for technicians dispatched to remote airstrips and FPSO vessels. A richer overtime multiplier or higher flight-hour ceiling could ripple through corporate-aviation and mobility budgets throughout Brazil’s oil-and-gas sector.
Travel-risk managers are watching closely. Brazilian labor law allows unions to issue a strike notice with 72 hours’ warning if members reject the deal, potentially grounding crew-change flights and disrupting rig rotations. Companies have been advised to pre-map critical missions, identify alternative helicopter operators and brief expatriate engineers on contingency plans.
The SNA promised to publish a red-line comparison of the draft agreement immediately after the livestream, signaling a new level of transparency in Brazil’s aviation labor relations and providing employers with early insight into potential cost changes.
Omni employs nearly 500 cockpit and cabin personnel who shuttle engineers and equipment to Petrobras, Shell and Equinor drilling platforms. Key negotiation points include a 6.8 percent salary adjustment tied to IPCA inflation, higher per-diems for night shifts on offshore platforms and expanded mental-health support after a spike in fatigue-related leave.
Why does this matter beyond the rotary-wing niche? Fixed-wing carriers often benchmark offshore agreements when setting allowances for technicians dispatched to remote airstrips and FPSO vessels. A richer overtime multiplier or higher flight-hour ceiling could ripple through corporate-aviation and mobility budgets throughout Brazil’s oil-and-gas sector.
Travel-risk managers are watching closely. Brazilian labor law allows unions to issue a strike notice with 72 hours’ warning if members reject the deal, potentially grounding crew-change flights and disrupting rig rotations. Companies have been advised to pre-map critical missions, identify alternative helicopter operators and brief expatriate engineers on contingency plans.
The SNA promised to publish a red-line comparison of the draft agreement immediately after the livestream, signaling a new level of transparency in Brazil’s aviation labor relations and providing employers with early insight into potential cost changes.
