ILO finds Harper Tories guilty of breaking international law (again)

The International Labour Organization (ILO) Committee on Freedom of Association has found the Canadian Conservative Government guilty of contravening ILO conventions on Freedom of Association, the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining in its Bill C-33, the so-called “Protecting Air Services Act” of March, 2012. This Act took away the right to strike from both […]


November 4, 2013

UK: Swissport workers from across the country vote for action (unitetheunion.org)

Workers from the ground handling company Swissport based at Gatwick, Heathrow, Manchester and Stansted airports have overwhelmingly voted in favour of strike action in a dispute over pay. 94 per cent of workers balloted voted in favour of strike action. The massive vote in favour of action has prompted the company to request an urgent […]


October 21, 2013

No place to fly!

Turkish Airlines (THY) CEO Temel Kotil attended a conference held at the İstanbul Technical University (İTÜ) on 8 October, where he was met by a group of students, demonstrating in support of the strike at THY and protesting against the airline’s use of strike-breakers. Kotil was invited to ITU as part of a career day […]


October 11, 2013

Solidarity action from PALEA to support Turkish Airlines workers

PALEA union, ITF affiliate in Philippines yesterday joined the ITF call for solidarity action to support Turkish Airlines (THY) workers. As THY doesn’t fly to Manila, PALEA members established a solidarity picket in front of the Turkish Airlines Sales Office in Ayala Avenue, Makati City. The area is the main business district in Metro Manila. PALEA […]


October 7, 2013

Disruption in the Sky: EU Commission pushing for new flight rules

The safety of millions of European air passengers will be subject to a decisive vote in the European Parliament (EP), in one week’s time (30 Sept.). At stake are new rules for EU-wide Flight Time Limitations (FTL) for pilots and cabin crew, which the EP Transport Committee will decide upon. The new rules, proposed by […]


September 23, 2013

One air freight dispute settles whilst another cargo and passenger labour scenario worsens (handyshippingguide.com)

As one labour dispute at an air freight carrier seems to be heading for a resolution, another simply sees the relationship between a combined cargo and passenger carrier worsen. Our previous stories (1) (2) have outlined the problems besetting all cargo airline Cargolux and combination carrier Turkish Airlines (THY), but whilst the Luxembourg based outfit […]


July 29, 2013

ITF condemns use of strike-breakers by THY

The ITF has expressed its ongoing concern regarding the use of strike-breakers by the Turkish Airlines (THY) and inaction of the Turkish Ministry of Labour and Social Security. On Monday 8 July, a labour court in Istanbul ordered THY to stop using employees it hired as replacements for workers that have been on strike since […]


July 12, 2013

European Action Day calls European Commission to stop dogmatic liberalisation of ATM industry

Stop jeopardizing jobs in European sky Today, Wednesday 12 June 2013, the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) and its national affiliates express their disagreement with the new package on the Single European Sky (SES), called SES2+, adopted yesterday by the European Commission. ATM (Air Traffic Management) workers are taking different types of actions (strikes, gatherings, […]


June 12, 2013