Tens of thousands ask Barca to find a new sponsor

Remember we told you about this petition? (See the news story here). How Barcelona FC is a club dedicated to upholding community and social values. Qatar Airways is an airline proved guilty of discrimination, where staff live in fear. Think the two don’t go together? Neither do many of Barca FC’s fans. An incredible 40,000 […]


July 13, 2015

ILO finds Qatar guilty

Geneva-based United Nations agency the ILO (International Labour Organization) today found Qatar guilty of allowing its state-owned airline, Qatar Airways, to violate international and national agreements and institutionalise discrimination. The case was successfully brought against Qatar by the ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) and the ITUC (International Trade Union Confederation) (see http://goo.gl/Ka5inH.) In a dramatic […]


June 16, 2015

The Hypocrisy World Cup? FIFA sponsors must tell Qatar to play fair on workers’ human rights

62 workers may lose their lives for each game played during Qatar’s 2022 World Cup, a tournament likely to be sponsored by FIFA partner companies Coke, VISA, McDonald’s, Adidas, Kia and Hyundai. Without sponsorship, this multi-billion dollar tournament couldn’t take place. Most sponsors commit themselves to respecting the UN Declaration of Human Rights – which […]


May 26, 2015

Forced to stay single and facing the sack if they get pregnant, the staggeringly sexist rules for female cabin crew on Gulf airlines (dailymail.co.uk)

Cabin staff working for two major Gulf airlines face losing their jobs for falling pregnant and are even required to get permission before they marry, outraged campaigners claim. According to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) carriers based in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are guilty of ‘flagrant abuses of aviation workers’ labour rights’. […]


February 16, 2015

One of the world’s largest airlines makes its flight attendants ask permission before getting married (washingtonpost.com)

Over the last 20 years, Qatar Airways has undergone a remarkable transformation. Backed by tiny Qatar’s government riches, the airline has added routes to every populated continent, soaring from the 90th-largest international carrier to the 10th. Its prices on flights to D.C., New York, Miami and Dallas are cheap enough to pose a major challenge […]


ITF urges action over Dominican Republic arrest and workers’ persecution

The ITF is urging unions to demonstrate their solidarity with persecuted air traffic controllers in the Dominican Republic after its regional secretary was arrested on 9 February just hours before he was due to give a joint press conference with the national trade union centre CNTD. Antonio Fritz was in the country on a fact-finding […]


February 13, 2015

Barca FC’s Qatar Airways rethink ‘another nail in coffin’ of airline’s reputation

The ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) today congratulated Barcelona football club for considering dropping its lucrative sponsorship deal with Qatar Airways, over what club president Josep Maria Bartomeu described as “social issues”. The ITF has publicly and repeatedly challenged the airline’s dictatorial treatment of its workers, and is part of the union Rerun the Vote […]


January 29, 2015

Qatar country with fourth highest rate of slavery: NGO (english.al-akhbar.com)

Qatar was ranked fourth in a global ranking of countries where slavery is most prevalent, a rights group said on Monday. The Walk Free Foundation, an Australian-based human rights group, estimated in its global index that almost 36 million people are living as slaves across the globe, and listed Mauritania, Uzbekistan, Haiti, Qatar and India […]


November 20, 2014