Following secret negotiations, the United States and Argentinian governments have signed an Open Skies Agreement. Veiled as a ‘modernising’ of the 1985 transport agreement, the deal is detrimental to workers and comes as a complete surprise to Argentinian and US unions.
Joseph Tiberi, chair of the civil aviation section of the ITF and chief of staff of transportation in the *IAMAW (USA) has stated: “The ITF rejects this agreement as there are no labour provisions or protections for workers in either country.
“The governments declared the aim is to ‘benefit aviation workers’ but what we know is that completely deregulated agreements without any protection to workers like the one signed yesterday only bring deterioration of working conditions and loss of trained and experienced workers - that are usually replaced by new ones with lower conditions.
Edgardo Llano, vicechair of the civil aviation section of the ITF and general secretary of *APA (Argentina) added: “We oppose this agreement negotiated in secret during a year without any consultation to any of the unions of either country. This shows clearly that there is no intention to benefit the workers.
“This agreement would give more capacity to the big corporations to relocate their operations without any possibility for the governments in both countries to protect their workers. Besides, the Transitional provision on Ground Handling in Argentina (Annex III) is illegal. The Argentinean government is promising the US services that will be illegal to deliver.
IAMAW and APA have pledged to coordinate lobby efforts and other actions among ITF unions in both countries.
Stephen Cotton, ITF general secretary stated “We will support our unions in the USA and Argentina to fight against this unfair deal. We call on parliamentarians in both countries to oppose and reverse this deal.”
*IAMAW: International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, USA & Canada
**APA: Asociación del Personal Aeronáutico, Argentina
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