At a conference this month, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) sounded the alarm about the growth of new airlines registered in ‘flag of convenience’ countries where regulations are weak or non-existent. This development is part of a constant push by airline companies to cut costs and increase profits. Airline companies have turned air transport workers into ‘…the primary shock absorbers for managing the effects of deregulation, liberalisation, the periodic business cycles and external shocks in the industry, often with devastating social consequences’. An internationally co-ordinated campaign by airline workers will be the only way to defeat this ‘race to the bottom’.
At a conference this month, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) sounded the alarm about the growth of new airlines registered in ‘flag of convenience’ countries where regulations are weak or non-existent. This development is part of a constant push by airline companies to cut costs and increase profits. Airline companies have turned air transport workers into ‘…the primary shock absorbers for managing the effects of deregulation, liberalisation, the periodic business cycles and external shocks in the industry, often with devastating social consequences’. An internationally co-ordinated campaign by airline workers will be the only way to defeat this ‘race to the bottom’.
