ITF demands that Garuda Indonesia ends its union-busting campaign

The Garuda Indonesia airline must end its attack on legitimate trade unions and come to the negotiating table, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) has said. Garuda has a long track-record of anti-union behaviour. Last week, in the latest such incident, the company unilaterally ended ‘check-off’ collection of union dues on behalf of its cabin […]


August 27, 2019

Unions call foul play on Ryanair’s threatened job cuts

Union leaders say job cuts announced by Ryanair are mainly about intimidating its workforce and have little to do with operational justifications. Ryanair said this week that it would cut up to 900 jobs, blaming the late delivery of malfunctioning Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, rising fuel prices, lower fares and the prospect of a […]


August 3, 2019

ETF/ITF supports the Flight Personnel Union, Denmark (FPU) and the cabin crew at Atlantic Airways

The dismissal of two union representatives fighting to improve working conditions for cabin crew employed at Atlantic Airways is unacceptable. FPU and their local branch at Atlantic Airways have struggled to obtain a collective agreement on behalf of both pilots and cabin crew at Atlantic Airways. FPU organizes the cabin crew in the company, and […]


June 25, 2019

Landmark ruling in favour of Ryanair crew

In a decision with wide-ranging consequences for European aviation, a Belgian court has ruled that Ryanair cabin crew are subject to national labour law. The ruling marks the latest episode in a legal saga involving the Irish low-cost carrier, which traditionally employed all its pan-European crew on Irish or British contracts as a way of […]


June 14, 2019

Machinists union calls for US government to investigate Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines’ union-busting attempts have sparked a formal complaint to the US government by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM). The airline is accused of surveilling employees involved in union activities and targeted dismissals of union activists. In addition, marking the latest in a long series of anti-union incidents, Delta has […]


May 15, 2019

Delta Airlines staff told ‘don’t unionise, buy video games’ (bbc.com)

By Chris Bell Delta Airlines is facing significant criticism after posters discouraging its staff from joining a union were widely shared online. “Union dues cost around $700 [£540] a year,” one of the posters states. “A new video game system with the latest hits sounds like fun. Put your money towards that instead of paying […]


May 11, 2019

A year on from its first crew strikes, Ryanair still has to clean up its act

One year on from the first cabin crew strikes at Ryanair, some progress has been made in the company’s industrial relations. However, the airline still needs to enact substantial changes to put its business on a sustainable footing. Easter weekend 2018 saw Ryanair cabin crew walk off the job for the first time in the […]


April 17, 2019

New victory for Ryanair workers as labour authority rules on Eindhoven base closure

The Dutch labour authority (UWV) has ruled that Ryanair cannot fire the workers affected by the closure of its base at Eindhoven Airport, marking a significant setback for the airline’s industrial relations model. In October Ryanair announced it planned to close its bases at Eindhoven and Bremen and downsize operations at Weeze, citing the impact […]


March 22, 2019