Workers strike at Kuwait airport for better working conditions

Arab News - AFP, 11 November 2019

The right to strike is guaranteed for its citizens but foreign workers, who make up
a major portion of Kuwait’s labor force, do not have the right to strike. Above,
the Kuwaiti international airport. (AFP)

Monday’s strike by Kuwaiti staff did not affect flights, officials said

The right to strike is guaranteed for citizens in Kuwait, but such actions remain rare in the Gulf country

KUWAIT CITY: Hundreds of workers at Kuwait’s international airport held a one-hour strike Monday to demand better working conditions, threatening to stage longer walkouts in the coming days.

Ahmed Mohammed Al-Kandari, a union representative, said workers were calling for improved treatment and to be compensated for daily exposure to pollution and noise.

Monday’s strike by Kuwaiti staff did not affect flights, officials said.

The right to strike is guaranteed for citizens in Kuwait, but such actions remain rare in the Gulf country.

Foreign workers do not have the right to strike.

“Airport traffic is very normal,” Sheikh Salman Al-Hamoud Al-Sabah, head of the General Directorate of Civil Aviation, said.

Another official, Saleh Al-Fadaghi, the airport’s director of operations, also said flights were not affected.

“During the one-hour strike, 19 flights were operated as scheduled. There were five departures and 14 arrivals,” he said.

Kandari said the purpose of the strike was not to disrupt operations but “to make our voices heard.”

He added that Kuwaiti workers would hold a further two-hour strike on Wednesday and a 24-hour strike on Sunday if their demands are not met.

Of 4,500 civil aviation employees, 1,500 took part in Monday’s strike, he said.

Ryanair boss writes angry letter to Dutch MPs about hearing invite

DutchNews, November 21, 2018

Photo: Ryanair.com 

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has written to Dutch MPs, accusing them of wanting to pillory the airline at a public hearing on airline working conditions next week, the AD said on Wednesday. 

The parliamentary infrastructure committee is holding the hearing next week and Ryanair is one of the organisations which has been invited to attend. 

The invitation, the AD states, says that some airlines are looking to limit wage costs and pilots and cabin crew are often having to deal with non-Dutch labour law, short breaks and, when they protest, are threatened with being shut down. 

Ryanair closed its Eindhoven base at the beginning of this month, and a court which looked at the case said that it appeared as if the closure was a punishment for strikes earlier this year. 

The AD says that Ryanair has replied to the invitation in an angry letter signed by O’Leary and which says the hearing is an ‘inappropriate forum’. 

The invitation is ‘full of accusations which are wrong’, such as the claims about pay and about rest periods, the AD quotes the letter as saying.

O’Leary also says the Eindhoven base was closed because of rising fuel costs and the threat of a 45% increase in airport fees. In addition, he criticises the presence of Ghent university professor Yves Jorens, whom he describes as ‘dubious’. 

DutchNews.nl has not seen the letter and has been unable to verify the contents or the actual English text.

France grounds Ryanair plane to force subsidy repayment

Yahoo – AFP, November 9, 2018

The French authorities stopped a Ryanair plane from taking off to put pressure
on the airline (AFP Photo/PAU BARRENA)

Paris (AFP) - The French civil aviation authority said Friday it had seized a Ryanair plane to get the Irish low-cost airline to repay illegal public aid, the latest in a string of troubles for the carrier.

The EU Commission in 2014 ruled that subsidies Ryanair received from a regional authority had to be repaid, but the airline had not complied despite repeated warnings.

The plane, a Boeing 737, was seized on Thursday at Bordeaux airport in southwestern France.

"This measure was taken as a last resort by the French authorities after several reminders and attempts to recuperate the money failed," the DGAC civil aviation body said.

"By this action, the government reaffirms its intention to guarantee the conditions of fair competition between airlines and between airports," it said.

The plane "will remain immobilised until the sum is paid".

It was "regrettable" that the 149 passengers on board the plane had to wait five hours before being able to take off from the Bordeaux-Merignac airport in another Ryanair aircraft, the civil aviation body added.

The French authorities stopped a Ryanair plane from taking off to put pressure on
the airline (AFP Photo/PAU BARRENA)

Regional newspaper Charente Libre reported that the plane was close to take-off for London's Stansted airport when a bailiff, accompanied by police, declared it seized on the tarmac and sealed the aircraft.

The airline owes the regional authority 525,000 euros ($595,000), regional officials said.

The president of the regional airport authority, Didier Vallat, told AFP he expected the money to be disbursed Friday or Saturday.

"Ryanair practically promised that they will pay us today," he said.

Ryanair's fleet is made up mostly of Boeing 737-800 aircraft, which have a list price of around $98 million each.

In October, EU anti-trust authorities opened an investigation into whether Ryanair benefited from measures at a German airport that give the Irish low-cost carrier an unfair leg-up over competitors.

And last week ministers from five European governments warned Ryanair that it could face legal trouble if it ignores national labour laws after a series of strikes across the continent.

The pan-European stoppages prompted the airline to cut its profit forecast, but it still expects to make profits after tax of 1.10-1.20 billion euros in its current financial year.

Ryanair is also fighting an order by Italian regulators to suspend a charge for carry-on bags.

Qatar Airways says it will stop sacking women who get pregnant

Women working with Qatar Airways will not be sacked anymore if they get pregnant or marry within the first five years of employment. The airline company relaxed its rules after pressure from international labor groups.

Deutsche Welle, 27 Aug 2015

A spokeswoman for the Doha-based airline said the company had phased out the restrictions "over the past six months."

The policies included air hostesses losing their jobs if they became pregnant or married within the first five years of employment.

"Our policies have evolved with the airline's growth," a Qatar Airways spokeswoman told news agency AFP. Under the new rules, female employees who were going to have babies would be offered temporary jobs. Staff could also get married after notifying the company.

More than 9,000 cabin crew operate Qatar Airways' planes around the world. Nearly 80 percent of these are women, who have to organize their lives around their company's strict laws.

One of these includes a rule according to which female employees can be picked up from work only by their father, brothers or husband. Qatar Airways is not easing this restriction for now.

Qatar Airways has a fleet of more than
150 jets, servicing almost 150 destinations

The airlines' discriminatory policies

The airline's discriminatory policies have met with severe criticism from employees and labor unions around the world. The International Labor 

Organization (ILO) looked into the organization's rules after a complaint by the International Transport Workers' Federation and the International Trade Union Confederation.

The ILO said Qatar was a signatory of the 57-year-old convention against discrimination at work, ratified by 170 countries and that its rules dismissing pregnant women breached the international agreement.

"Protective measures should include action taken to ensure that a woman worker does not lose her job during pregnancy and that maternity is not a source of discrimination," the ILO said in its statement in June this year.

However, the airways snubbed international pressure and its chief, Akbar Al Baker said at the time, "I don't give a damn about the ILO - I am there to run a successful airline." Al Baker also said the UN agency's attitude was "evidence of a vendetta they have against Qatar Airways and my country."

The Gulf kingdom has been repeatedly criticized for its treatment of workers, especially those working to build football stadiums and infrastructure ahead of the World Cup in 2022.

mg/kms (AFP, Reuters)