Airlines Workers Issues
Trump unveils plan to privatize air traffic control system
By Patrick Martin, 6 June 2017
The plan combines elements proposed by Republican and Democratic administrations over three decades, going back to the attack on the air traffic controllers union in 1981.
As anger grows against US carriers, Spirit Airlines scapegoats pilots
By Jerry White, 12 May 2017
In one of the latest widely publicized incidents, passengers erupted in rage at a Spirit Airlines ticket counter in Florida after flight cancellations and delays.
Verdi union shuts down Berlin airport workers strike
By Gustav Kemper and Marianne Arens, 17 March 2017
The union stopped a strike by ground crew at the Berlin airports, despite the employer’s refusal to submit a new offer.
UK: Unite union imposes isolation of Heathrow cabin crew strike
By Ross Mitchell and Robert Stevens, 11 March 2017
Unite has done nothing to mobilise the support of other cabin crew in defence of the Heathrow crew, either at that airport or at any other in the UK.
Lufthansa-union agreement on arbitration ruling: an attack on pilots in Germany
By Dietmar Henning, 18 February 2017
Lufthansa and the pilots union have accepted an arbitration ruling on compensation for 5,400 pilots, and the airline linked the agreement with a new declaration of war on workers.
Striking British Airways cabin crew explain appalling work contract
By Ross Mitchell, 24 January 2017
The WSWS spoke to striking British Airways cabin crew at their picket at Hatton Cross Metro station last week during a 72-hour strike.
Striking Lufthansa pilots demonstrate in Frankfurt
By Marianne Arens, 2 December 2016
Hundreds of striking Lufthansa pilots gathered at Rhein-Main Airport in Frankfurt on day seven of the latest pilots’ strike.
Lufthansa makes new offer to striking pilots
By Dietmar Henning, 28 November 2016
The offer made by the Lufthansa board on Friday evening is aimed at breaking the resistance of the pilots’ union and pushing through fundamental changes in working conditions.
Germany: UFO union calls off strikes and begs for hearing with Lufthansa bosses
By Dietmar Henning, 2 November 2016
The Independent Flight Attendants Organisation has cancelled strikes planned for this week at Eurowings, declaring it is “speechless” at the company's tough stance.
Unions at Germany’s TUIfly airlines act as strikebreakers
By Ulrich Rippert, 14 October 2016
The workers at TUIfly are putting up fierce opposition to a restructuring plan accompanied by extensive job and wage cuts.
Lufthansa sets a course for confrontation with pilots
By Marianne Arens, 16 August 2016
The breaking off of talks between the pilots’ union and management heralds a new phase in the dispute.
German Labour Court declares air traffic controllers strike illegal
By Marianne Arens, 2 August 2016
The federal Labour Court in Erfurt ordered the aircraft controllers union GdF to pay airport operator Fraport millions in damages following the 2012 strike.
Lack of job protection for European pilots turns dream job into nightmare
By Marianne Arens, 26 July 2016
A growing number of pilots in Europe are compelled to accept short-term contracts, sham self-employment and insecure employment relations.
Lufthansa flight attendants union accepts arbitration agreement
By Marianne Arens, 6 July 2016
By agreeing to the arbitration award, the union is stabbing cabin staff and pilots in the back in their struggle to defend jobs, wages and pensions.
Delta Airlines pilots hold protest over stalled contract talks
By Shannon Jones, 25 June 2016
With the airline recording massive profits, pilots are seeking to recoup concessions including average pay cuts of over 40 percent.
Air France announces pay cuts for pilots
By Anthony Torres, 14 May 2016
The cuts at the airline are the product of the betrayal of the 2014 pilots strike by the National Union of Airline Pilots.
Belgian air traffic controllers launch wildcat strike at Brussels airport
By Robert Stevens, 14 April 2016
The working class throughout Belgium and Europe must come to the defense of the striking air traffic controllers, who have taken a courageous stand against attacks on retirement.
Australia: Qantas reaps record profits by slashing jobs and wages
By Terry Cook, 5 March 2016
Deep cuts have been imposed on the airline’s workers through a combination of intimidation and the collaboration of the trade unions.
Pakistan steps up privatization drive after unions suppress airline strike
By Sampath Perera, 20 February 2016
Nawaz Sharif’s government has seized on the unions’ betrayal of the PIA anti-privatization strike to victimize hundreds of the most militant workers.
Mechanics at United Continental reject sellout contract
By Shannon Jones, 18 February 2016
By a 93 percent margin workers rejected a contract proposal that would have created a two-tier system with drastically lower pay and benefits for new hires.
2016 will be a year of escalating class struggle
By Jerry White, 4 January 2016
Class conflict will become an ever-more dominant feature of life in 2016 as the ruling classes in the US and around the world demand that workers pay for the global economic crisis.
Lufthansa flight attendants threaten strike
By Dietmar Henning, 6 November 2015
The flight attendant union UFO announced a strike starting on Friday.
German pilots struggle: The right to strike requires a socialist perspective
By Ulrich Rippert, 11 September 2015
The decision of the labor court in the German state of Hessian to forbid Lufthansa pilots from striking is an attack on the right to strike directed against all workers.
Corruption and bankruptcy at the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport
By Gustav Kemper, 17 August 2015
Public prosecutors are investigating construction company Imtech on suspicion of embezzlement, bribery, price-fixing and false accounting.
German pilots’ union capitulates to Lufthansa
By Dietmar Henning, 31 July 2015
The cockpit union has sold out the pilots, giving the company even more than it was demanding, including raising the retirement age and cutting costs.
New York City airport workers’ job action called off by union
By Alan Whyte, 24 July 2015
A planned strike of 1,200 poorly paid New York City airport workers was called off after a deal was reached with the SEIU to achieve “labor peace.”
Behind the airline workers strike at Alitalia
By Mariane Arens, 8 April 2015
While the airlines continue to attack employees’ wages and working conditions, the unions pursue a purely nationalist strategy directed against their own members.
Injured Boeing contract worker dies in Washington state
By Angelo Bosworth and Hector Cordon, 11 December 2014
Ken Otto died Sunday due to injuries suffered while working on a Boeing jet in November
Lufthansa pilots in Germany walk out again
By Dietmar Henning, 4 December 2014
Pilots and other workers are fighting company plans to expand operations of its low-cost subsidiaries and slash jobs and wages.
After flight attendants reject contract, American Airlines makes offer to pilots
By Shannon Jones, 14 November 2014
Initial reports indicate pilots are overwhelmingly opposed to the proposal, which removes profit-sharing.
American Airlines flight attendants reject contract
By Shannon Jones, 11 November 2014
The rejection of the union-recommended deal comes after more than a decade in which airline workers have suffered one round of wage, benefit and pension cuts after another.
Germany: Lufthansa pilots take renewed strike action
By Stefan Steinberg, 21 October 2014
While the immediate issue in the pilots’ dispute is cuts in early retirement provision, the background is the major changes in the air industry that affect not only pilots but all airline workers in Europe and across the globe.
One-day strike by Lufthansa pilots in Germany
By Helmut Arens, 2 October 2014
The Lufthansa pilots’ strike was directed against the attempt by the corporation to carry through attacks on retirement benefits for 5,400 pilots.
Pilots union pushes for sell-out of Air France pilots strike
By Alex Lantier and Stéphane Hugues, 29 September 2014
The unions and the Socialist Party government are desperately pushing pilots to accept a deal that would pave the way to deep cuts in wages and conditions.
Lufthansa insists on pension cuts for pilots
By Dietmar Henning, 26 September 2014
At talks Monday there was no indication of a deal as Lufthansa refuses to budge from its original plans to cut pilots’ retirement provisions.
Air France pilots’ strike hardens despite government climbdown
By Antoine Lerougetel, 26 September 2014
The government’s decision, faced with the pilots’ strike, to force Air France to abandon plans for a new low-cost subsidiary signals a major political crisis in France.
Air France pilots strike against low wages
By Antoine Lerougetel, 20 September 2014
Seventy-five percent of Air France pilots have been on strike since Monday.
German train drivers union to hold warning strike Tuesday
By Dietmar Henning, 8 September 2014
The German Trade Union Federation (DGB) and the government have announced measures to prevent strikes by pilots, train drivers and many other workers.
German media seeks to whip up public opinion against pilots and train drivers
By Marianne Arens, 1 September 2014
The goal of German airline and rail unions, including smaller unions like Cockpit, is to maximise the profits of Lufthansa and German Railways at the expense of the workforce.
Search for missing Malaysia Airlines plane enters third week
By Tom Peters, 22 March 2014
Strategic rivalries and state secrecy continue to mar the search for MH370.
Australian unions assist Qantas airways to sack workers
By Will Morrow, 15 March 2014
The Australian Council of Trade Unions immediately hailed the ASU agreement as a template for implementing all 5,000 Qantas job cuts.
Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 may have veered off course
By Peter Symonds, 15 March 2014
Search operations are now focussed on areas of the Indian Ocean, hundreds of kilometres to the west of MH370’s last known position.
The assault on Qantas workers and the global airline crisis
By Patrick O’Connor, 7 March 2014
The only way that Qantas workers can defend their jobs and conditions is through a unified struggle with airline workers internationally against the global airline conglomerates.
Australian trade unions move to enforce Qantas layoffs, wage cuts
By Patrick O’Connor, 1 March 2014
The unions have no problem with making workers bear the cost of the Qantas crisis, but want to maintain their privileged position within the airline industry.
Australia: Qantas Airways to cut 5,000 jobs and impose wage freeze
By James Cogan, 27 February 2014
The job destruction flows directly from the cut-throat competition for market share and profits among rival transnational airline alliances since the 2008 global financial crisis.
Australian airline Qantas reduced to “junk” status
By Patrick O’Connor, 10 January 2014
Moody’s announcement comes as even more job cuts at the airline are threatened.
Machinists’ union rams through sellout deal at Boeing
By Shannon Jones, 4 January 2014
The International Association of Machinists (IAM) forced a new vote on essentially the same deal workers rejected by a two-to-one margin in November.
Reject IAM-Boeing blackmail!
Form a rank-and-file committee to defeat concessions
By the Socialist Equality Party, 3 January 2014
The following SEP statement is being destributed to Boeing workers in the states of Washington and Oregon who are voting today on a contract extension.
New offensive being prepared against Boeing machinists
By Hector Cordon, 5 December 2013
In the wake of Boeing’s failed attempt to wrest deep concessions from its workers, the unions are ramping up a campaign to convince the manufacturer to keep production of its new airplane in Washington State.
Boeing workers decisively reject sellout contract
By Shannon Jones, 15 November 2013
Boeing workers in the Pacific Northwest voted 67 to 33 percent against a concession-laden 8-year contract extension.
Air France to lay off 2,800 workers
By Pierre Mabut, 8 October 2013
On September 18, Air France-KLM announced the elimination of a 2,800 jobs as part of its “Transform 2015” restructuring plan.
Investigation of San Francisco plane crash underway
By Gabriel Black and James Brewer, 11 July 2013
The National Transportation Safety Board has begun releasing details of its investigation into the crash landing of a South Korean airliner at San Francisco International Airport.
Two dead, 181 injured in San Francisco plane crash
By Gabriel Black, 8 July 2013
On Saturday, Asiana Airlines flight 214 crash landed at San Francisco International Airport.
One-day Lufthansa strike grounds flights in Germany
By Ernst Wolff, 24 April 2013
A strike by Lufthansa ground crew on Monday led to the cancellation of flights at airports across Germany.
Qantas Australia sacks another 500 maintenance engineers
By Patrick O’Connor, 9 November 2012
With the support of the federal Labor government, and the collaboration of the trade unions, Qantas is imposing layoffs on a near-monthly basis.
Lufthansa pushes ahead with job cuts
By Ernst Wolff, 30 October 2012
Lufthansa management has announced details of its plan to outsource and cut jobs.
Federal judge bans strike by Seattle airport refueling workers
By Hector Cordon, 24 October 2012
A federal injunction has blocked a strike by workers who fuel 75 percent of the planes at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
India’s Kingfisher Airlines workers demand unpaid salaries
By Sathish Simon and Kranti Kumara, 19 October 2012
Several hundred employees at privately-owned Kingfisher Airlines in India have engaged in strikes and other job actions over the past month to demand back wages owed to them since March.
Boeing professional workers overwhelmingly reject proposed contract
By Angelo Bosworth, 11 October 2012
Boeing engineers and technicians vote overwhelmingly against the company’s proposals.
Pilots union pushes through restructuring plan at Air France
By Francis Dubois, 24 August 2012
The National Airline Pilots Union has pushed through an agreement supporting management’s objectives at Air France.
Lufthansa flight attendants vote to strike
By Ernst Wolff, 14 August 2012
After a year of wrangling over a new pay agreement, a vast majority of Lufthansa flight attendants voted in favour of strike action.
Air France announces 5,000 job cuts
By Antoine Lerougetel, 28 June 2012
Air France-KLM will cut its workforce by 10 percent the end of 2013
Air Canada pushes Aveos into bankruptcy, eliminating 2,600 jobs
By Laurent Lafrance, 12 May 2012
Having mounted only a token campaign against the closure of the airplane maintenance company Aveos, the machinists’ union is working alongside the Quebec Liberal government to find a buyer to relaunch the company at its members’ expense.
Thousands of jobs at risk at Lufthansa
By Elizabeth Zimmermann, 2 May 2012
The Lufthansa Executive Board announced a new savings program to cut at least €1.5 billion by 2014.
Australian workers locked out by pharmaceutical company
By Peter Byrne, 14 March 2012
The Sigma dispute has become a test case for the elimination of penalty rates and other workplace conditions won through previous struggles.
German labour court bans Frankfurt airport strike
By Helmut Arens, 2 March 2012
Only hours after a Frankfurt labour court banned a scheduled solidarity strike by air traffic controllers at the city’s airport, the same court also proscribed the ongoing strike by ground crew.
Australia: Qantas engineering union imposes sell-out deal
By Terry Cook, 5 January 2012
Having shut down all industrial action, the union has reached an agreement that meets all of the central demands of Qantas management.
Australia: Qantas imposes arbitration to enforce restructuring
By Terry Cook, 23 November 2011
By sending the dispute into arbitration, the airline has obtained precisely what it wanted when it took the unprecedented step of grounding its entire fleet.
Australian airline unions seek deal with Qantas
By Terry Cook and Mike Head, 16 November 2011
Behind closed doors, the unions are working closely with the company to finalise enterprise bargaining agreements that will facilitate the wholesale destruction of jobs and conditions.
A global political strategy for Qantas workers
By James Cogan, 5 November 2011
In every part of the world, jobs, wages and conditions are being slashed as rival carriers cut costs and fight to maintain profitability amid an escalating global economic crisis.
Australian corporate elite hails Qantas assault
By Mike Head, 1 November 2011
The financial markets regard Qantas’s actions as a test case for the type of assault that must be implemented throughout all industries.
Qantas Airways grounds fleet to impose far-reaching restructuring
By James Cogan, 31 October 2011
Qantas is operating with a thoroughly worked-out global strategy that enjoys the full backing of the financial and corporate establishment, the Labor government and the courts.
Who owns Qantas?
By James Cogan, 31 October 2011
The executives serve as the direct representatives of finance and carry out their dictates.
Australian Labor government threatens Qantas airline workers
By Terry Cook and James Cogan, 17 October 2011
Openly backed by the Gillard government, Qantas management is preparing for the wholesale elimination of much of the Qantas-badged operations.
Union scuppers Air Canada strike, in response to fresh Tory attack
By Carl Bronski, 14 October 2011
The Canadian Union of Public Employees rescinded strike authorization for 6,800 Air Canada flight attendants, just hours after the Conservative government had their impending job action declared illegal.
Australia: Qantas uses Labor’s laws to lock out thousands of workers
By Terry Cook, 21 September 2011
Having had ample notice of a four-hour stoppage by ground crew, Qantas imposed a lockout and swung a strike-breaking plan into action, using management personnel.
Qantas to destroy 1,000 jobs as part of shift to Asia
By Patrick O’Connor, 17 August 2011
The measures amount to a declaration of war against Qantas workers, with the company’s directors working closely with the Labor government and the trade unions to suppress all opposition.
Qantas management threatens “ruthless” restructure
By Terry Cook, 1 August 2011
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has foreshadowed major attacks on jobs and conditions by the Australian airline.
Australian airline foreshadows major restructuring and shift to Asia
By Terry Cook, 2 July 2011
The fact that the speech was delivered to the national press club indicates that Qantas anticipates the backing of the Labor government in any confrontation with its workforce.
Irish unions work to sell out pilots at Aer Lingus
By Jordan Shilton, 3 June 2011
Trade unions at Aer Lingus are trying to block a strike by the airline’s pilots.
Qantas CEO escalates provocative campaign against workforce
By Alex Messenger and Patrick O’Connor, 21 April 2011
Qantas chief Alan Joyce denounced the resistance of pilots, engineers, and ground crew to his airline’s plans to undermine wages and conditions as “nothing short of a Kamikaze campaign.”
Australia: Qantas gears up for major assault on airline workers
By Noel Holt, 9 April 2011
Qantas has rejected demands for “job security” clauses in work contracts and is training management personnel as strike breakers.
Australia: Qantas pilots vote for industrial action to defend jobs
By Terry Cook, 23 February 2011
In a bid to fight the company’s aggressive cost-cutting, Qantas pilots have authorised their union to organise industrial action to insert a job security clause in a new enterprise agreement.
A reply to a letter on the Spanish air traffic controllers’ struggle
By Jerry White, 8 December 2010
The WSWS replied to a letter writer from Spain defending the Zapatero government’s attack on air traffic controllers.
Spanish air traffic controller: “We have arrived at something akin to Stalinist Russia, the Stasi or Hitler’s SS”
8 December 2010
This correspondence has been sent to the WSWS by a Spanish air traffic controller. It details the impact of the emergency legislation imposed by the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) government, bringing in military control of airports, including forced labour at gunpoint.
A reply to a letter on the Spanish air traffic controllers’ struggle
8 December 2010
The WSWS received this letter from Spain defending the Zapatero government’s military suppression of the air traffic controllers and criticizing the December 6 WSWS Perspective, “The threat of dictatorship in Spain” by Robert Stevens. A reply by WSWS writer Jerry White follows.
Spanish air traffic controller: “We are living now like under Franco”
By Chris Marsden, 7 December 2010
A number of Spanish air traffic controllers contacted the World Socialist Web Site to describe the state terror employed against them under the emergency measures imposed by the Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) government.
Spanish government sends army to break air traffic controllers strike
By Alejandro López and Alex Lantier, 4 December 2010
Prime Minister José Luis Zapatero signed an order to send army units to occupy control towers in airports around Spain, to break a wildcat strike by air traffic controllers.
Unite bureaucracy seeks to end British Airways strike on management’s terms
By Robert Stevens, 27 May 2010
British Airways cabin crew staff began a five-day strike on Monday, the latest action in an ongoing dispute with the airline.
Ban on strikes at British Airways overturned, but dangers persist
By Jordan Shilton, 22 May 2010
The court of appeals ruled two to one Thursday in favour of the Unite union’s appeal overturning a high court decision banning strike action by 12,000 cabin crew at British Airways (BA).
Spanish airport strikers given two-year probationary sentences
By Paul Mitchell, 3 April 2010
Twenty-three Spanish airport workers who went on strike at Barcelona airport on July 28, 2006 and occupied the runways have been given two-year probationary sentences.
Ireland: Trade unions paved way for mass sackings at Aer Lingus
By Steve James, 23 March 2010
The conditions in which Aer Lingus’ was emboldened to sack 1,200 cabin crew were created by the trade union bureaucracy in Ireland.
Spanish airport strikers face imprisonment for sedition
By Vicky Short and Paul Mitchell, 20 March 2010
The charges brought against 27 Spanish airport workers, under an anti-terror law passed during Franco’s fascist dictatorship, represent a major offensive against democratic rights.
Australia: Boeing unions seek to impose Sydney plant closure
By Richard Phillips, 19 March 2010
Two of Australia’s largest trade unions are attempting to secure an orderly closure of the Milperra Boeing plant, at the direct expense of 350 jobs.
Irish airline Air Lingus sacks hundreds of workers
By our correspondent, 12 March 2010
On Tuesday Republic of Ireland airline Aer Lingus announced 670 job cuts in a major attack on its workforce.
Australia: Qantas aircraft engineers vote for industrial action
By Terry Cook, 7 November 2009
About 190 professional engineers at Qantas voted by 98 percent to take industrial action after seven months of negotiations for a new work agreement failed to resolve issues over pay and working conditions.
Australian government’s industrial “cop” prosecutes union over Qantas strikes
By Mike Head, 3 November 2009
The Rudd government’s Fair Work Ombudsman and Qantas are seeking fines, multi-million dollar compensation
Hearing on Buffalo air crash—schedules, conditions, pay: “a recipe for an accident”
By David Walsh, 14 May 2009
Despite company and media efforts to scapegoat the airplane’s pilots for the February 12 crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407, two days of National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) hearings into the tragedy have established the essential culpability of Colgan Air and the US airline industry.
Australia: Rudd government and unions back Qantas as it axes 1,750 jobs
By Richard Phillips, 20 April 2009
Qantas has responded to a predicted profit freefall this year by axing 1,750 jobs from its 34,000-strong workforce and is now preparing, with union support, for a major restructuring of the company.
The social paradox in the “miraculous” rescue on the Hudson
17 January 2009
It is impossible not to be moved by accounts of the crash Thursday afternoon of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River near Manhattan and its aftermath, the successful rescue of all 150 passengers and 5 crew members.
Follow the WSWS