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Demonstration of European Cabin Crew Against Discrimination

1 June 2006

Delegations of CABIN CREW coming from all over Europe demonstrated today in front of the Council to claim for equal rights as safety professionals and for equal safety levels for aviation passengers.

Erika Young, President of the ETF Civil Aviation Section and Inger-Helene Enger, President of the ETF Cabin Crew Committee met with Paolo Costa, President of the Committee of Transport of the European Parliament and Ulrich Stcokmann, Rapporteur on the proposed Regulation on air safety. They handed over 20.000 petitions supporting the Cabin Crew demands.

For the ETF, harmonisation of safety rules at EU level should NOT lead to the reduction of the high safety levels and of the social rights already existing in the Member States.

EU legislation provides certification by the competent Authority for all safety-sensitive workers in all transport modes, except for CABIN CREW. Such discrimination will – sooner or later - impact against the public travelling by air.

Cabin Crew are the last line of defense. Assistance and protection of passenger safety on every day flights and passenger survival in case of emergency depend on the Cabin Crew.

In the absence of certification by a competent Authority as in the Regulation currently proposed by the Council, the safety training and competence of Cabin Crew risk being victimised by cost reduction. This could encourage some airline-employers to act as “Judge and Jury” and, in a context of fierce competition, to increase pressure on Cabin Crew to prioritise service tasks to the detriment of their safety duties and security responsibilities.

Today, the Committee on Transport voted on the proposed Regulation. The ETF acknowledge the efforts made and is grateful to those MEPs who supported improvements in the interests of safety, particularly for the cabin crew area of responsibility. However, the overall outcome of the vote does not sufficiently address the concerns regarding the cabin crew proficiency.

Therefore, in advance of the forthcoming plenary vote by the European Parliament in July 2006, the ETF together with all European Cabin Crew:

call for public support in the interests of safer air travelling,
claim for equal rights and for the need to ensure Cabin Crew professional integrity and competence,
urge ALL Members of the European Parliament to adopt the proposed Regulation on Air Safety Rules provided that:

            - all personnel in the passenger cabin are fully qualified cabin crew,
        - a non-regression clause and provisions against social dumping are inserted,
            - the Commission, assisted by the European Aviation Safety Agency, is tasked to prepare rules for a future European certification of cabin crew.

ENDS

For more information please contact:

European Transport Workers' Federation
Rue du Midi 165
B-1000 Bruxelles
Tel: +32 (2) 285 46 60
Fax: +32 (2) 280 08 17
Email: etf@etf-europe.org
Web: www.etf-europe.org

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