Russia:Union leaders arrested at Aeroflot (LabourStartCampaigns.net)

While the trade union ShPLS, representing pilots of thee biggest Russian airline AEROFLOT, is in the midst of bitter fighting for a collective bargaining agreement (CBA), three of its leaders were arrested on 18 and 20 October 2013 as a result of a provocation. Alexei Shlyapnokov, Valeriy Pimoshenko and Sergei Knyshov now can be sentenced […]


January 23, 2014

China And Qatar Want Flight Attendants To Be Young, Single, Skinny And Female (smithsonianmag.com)

Just like American airlines did in the 1960s In China, some young ladies attend university for a chance to enter a beauty pageant. But it’s a very specific pageant, with the promise of employment at the end—a university-sponsored beauty contest for would-be flight attendants. Qingdao University recently sponsored one of these competitive events, which brought together women who had been recommended by four different […]


January 17, 2014

High Stakes in Global Aviation (www.ttd.org)

Stop me if you’ve heard this one. A Norwegian airline registers its aircraft in Ireland, “rents” flight crews based in Thailand covered by the labor laws of Singapore, and then applies for a foreign air carrier permit from the United States. Unfortunately, this is not the start of a bad joke but a new business […]


January 3, 2014

Gate Gourmet workers fight to preserve their CBA (www.iuf.org)

Salaries and working conditions for the 122 Gate Gourmet workers at Geneva Airport have been governed since 1997 by a CBA negotiated by their union, SSP, the Public Service Workers Union. Despite improving profits at Geneva Airport, the company proposed salary cuts and fewer benefits in collective bargaining in 2013. Send a message to Gate […]


December 9, 2013

Airlines in Mideast look beyond their region (International New York Times Asia)

There is little doubting the ambitions of the giant Middle Eastern airlines, but recent large plane orders demonstrated just how aggressively these carriers plan to compete in coming years. The three airlines — Emirates, Etihad Airlines and Qatar Airways — all based in a small area, already operate more wide-body airplanes than all the American […]


December 2, 2013

Protest demo in Germany before Borussia Dortmund and FC Bayern München match

On 23 November, a group of Borussia Dortmund supporters and trade unionists staged a protest ahead of the match between Borussia Dortmund and FC Bayern München in Dortmund. Dozens of protestors gathered in front of the Signal Iduna Park stadium and held placards reading “A real Scandal; Turkish Airlines: Anti-worker and hostile towards the union; […]


November 27, 2013

Last-minute deal averts strike at Sofia Airport

Airport workers in Bulgaria have reached an agreement on pay and conditions with their employer just minutes before the start of a national protest organised by the Соnfederation of the Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria. The agreement, which was signed during the weekend of 20 November between the ITF-affiliated union Federation of Transport Trade Unions […]


PALEA secures reinstatement agreement (atn.aero)

The ITF today applauded the determination of a Philippines union – and the international solidarity which helped sustain it – that has led to the re-employment in regular jobs of some 600 workers. After an intense struggle lasting over two years, the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) has won agreement from Philippines Airlines (PAL) for […]


November 19, 2013