For the first time in its history, the ITF civil aviation section held a global event in July 2005, a major international conference, which focused on the economics of civil aviation right across the sector.

The conference brought together experts from the industry, from academia, and from the press, and ITF-affiliated unions debated their different perspectives on key issues. During the course of the conference, some regional aspects emerged, as well as issues of global importance.

In a series of brainstorming sessions, affiliates identified the need to continue work in some established areas, such as the global airline alliances, and to build global outreach on the basis of newer experiences, such as in the low cost sector. Here for example the web-based Ryanair campaign has illuminated a new direction for campaigning work.

Newly emerging issues of interest included the continuous rise of fuel prices and the latest discussions in the public arena about fuel taxation and emission trading. At the end of an inspiring three-day event, the secretariat in London was left with a long list of new ideas and work projects, with which to respond to the industrial challenges of the 21st century.

Can we turn things around?

At the conference ITF civil aviation secretary Ingo Marowsky took a long hard look at the challenges for labour in a globalising civil aviation sector

We have done what we can to help the industry survive. Without our concessions, worldwide, many airlines would not be flying anymore. We have succeeded in positioning labour as a stakeholder in the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). But we are still under constant threat of being turned back again, and are far away from any personnel regulation, such as licensing for air traffic services staff or cabin crews, while at the same time, we are confronted with further ground handling liberalisation. Our role within ICAO is important and must be maintained. But we must prioritise more and re-configure our role.

In terms of Alliances and union cooperation, we have fully functioning trade union coalitions in all three airline alliances, but recently they have become very Euro-American in participation. We need to review our work here so that it fully represents all members of our alliances.

On the low cost challenge, first, let there be no misunderstanding, our policy is not opposing low-cost-operations in principle. There are jobs in this sector, many junior colleagues see it as their springboard into the industry, and many of them are unionised.

We oppose the anti-union companies, the Ryanairs, Air Berlins, Jetblues, Deccan Airs, and Air Asias of this world. Our Ryanair campaign website has been very successful in giving access and a voice to workers in this airline. But it can only be part of a cohesive campaign supported by our affiliates. Involvement on the ground is essential, and we have good experiences from our affiliates who have successfully organised in a number of low cost carriers.

But we must be very vigilant, as the changes which are taking place in civil aviation are happening at an extraordinary rate. For a long time, we thought existing ownership regulations meant international takeovers simply could not happen. We thought this was the main principle underpinning the alliances – that they formed to circumnavigate the problems of ownership regulation.

But now the impossible has happened. In effect, Air France has taken over KLM, Lufthansa has taken over Swiss and Virgin has moved in to take what once belonged to Nigerian Airways.

And this rapid change is not only happening at the level of the company. It’s also happening directly to our members’ jobs. Even relatively new workers in the industry such as call centre workers are already under threat from increased use of the internet and e-ticketing, and with self-service check-in we must anticipate a reduction in the number of check-in staff.

Again the industry is responding fast to the increasing demands made by consumer societies, and this means we must refocus our attention, not only on passenger services but also cargo services. For the first time, in some mainline full service passenger airlines, cargo transport has overtaken passenger transport. This is going to continue. There is enormous pressure to create a more liberal regulatory regime for air freight operations, separate from the ICAO rules for passenger carriers .

We are in a global industry, where we share many common issues but they impact upon us in a different way.

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North America is the biggest regional aviation market worldwide but US unions face enormous challenges, and hard decisions have been taken to continue the fight for jobs. Often, they have been pushed onto the defensive, but we need to support them to become proactive and a positive force in the industry in the future.

Europe too is a major regional aviation market, which is operating in a changing political framework. Enlargement within the European Union brings together an increasing number of countries with very different political and social experiences.

Within civil aviation we are experiencing an increase in unprotected temporary employment and agency labour, and a movement of jobs from the more developed to the less developed parts of the EU, because a skilled labour force is available for less money. These are challenges we must address.

Asia/Pacific is the fastest growing aviation region. Again, jobs are moving, and at the same time, state owned companies are being dis-invested and chopped apart. The non-union sector is growing massively in aviation, in call centres, in private airlines, and in the low cost sector. But are company-based unions the right answer to this kind of fragmentation? I would suggest they are necessary but not sufficient to address these issues, and I would encourage them to look again at their structures.

In terms of Africa, aviation in this region seems to be disappearing – Air Afrique a few years ago, and Nigerian Airways right now. We began a tripartite approach with the International Labour Organisation to seek solutions in this region. However we were very seriously obstructed by both employers and governments, and despite numerous efforts on our part at the ITF, this approach has so far failed. Still, we keep trying, and will make sure that the eyes of the world see this ignorance.

The latest challenge is the news that African governments have now decided to open up their skies to one another. To one another first, and then what next? These are serious challenges not only for our African affiliates but also for us in the ITF.

As for Latin America, after dark decades of Pinochet and his like, we now have an era in which social reformers, some even with trade union backgrounds such as President Lula in Brazil, are moving into the political system. It would be great if we could use this trend to get back a little bit of state responsibility, rather than leaving it all to “the market”. Certainly our affiliates in the Mercosur free trade area are making good use of the current climate and we need to support them in developing these opportunities further.

Because ultimately we must all remember that none of us is alone – we have friends worldwide, standing next to one another when we need help. What we do is not about money. Rather we are a cause, we have goals worth fighting for. This is what makes us strong. We are not a slick business entity, we are part of a great, international labour movement. And I believe we can rise to the great challenges we face.

What they said... Some of the comments made at the ITF conference in July more>>