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Turkish aviation union protests against anti-union airport operator
13 March 2008
A Turkish civil aviation union is locked in a battle with the operator of Istanbul’s international airport terminal after it rejected the union’s application to carry out a campaign to highlight fatigue.
The ITF-affiliated union Hava-Is had been preparing a national campaign to raise awareness of the issue of fatigue among pilots and cabin crew and the inadequacy of existing national legislation on duty and flight times and rest periods.
Hava-Is planned to launch the campaign at Istanbul Ataturk International Airport Terminal, the busiest airport in the country, by providing cabin crew and pilots with information on fatigue.
On 26 February the union made an official application to TAV Havalimanlari Holding AS, which operates the airport’s international and domestic terminal buildings, for permission to set up a stand at the airport. All the procedures were adhered to and the application fee transferred into the company’s bank account. However, on 29 February TAV rejected the union’s application.
During a conversation between the union’s President, Atilay Aycin, and TAV Istanbul’s General Manager, Kemal Unlu, last week, Unlu explained that the application had been turned down because TAV did not want union activity in any of its companies.
Mustafa Yagci, General Secretary of Hava-Is, commented: “TAV’s attitude is unacceptable. It violates trade union and civil rights by going against International Labour Organization conventions 87 and 98 on the rights to free association and collective bargaining, which have been ratified by Turkey.”
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