The Turkish Civil Aviation Union (Hava-Ýþ) has produced a new bilingual brochure, entitled "Dismissed Turkish Airlines workers speak," to mobilize further solidarity. The brochure consists of one-to-one interviews with some of the 305 Turkish Airlines and Technic Inc. workers who were unfairly dismissed almost seven months ago.

On July 3, 2012 the Turkish government banned strikes by aviation workers, and sacked 305 workers via text, email and phone for taking a stand in defence of their right to strike.

The brochure shows that despite these and other apparent attempts to break Hava-Ýþ the workers are determined. Together with their union and their international trade union family they are fighting back.

To download you own copy please click here or order copies by sending an email to kemalulker@havais.org.tr

Global union the ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) will launch a new resource pack for tackling the issue of HIV/AIDS in the world’s civil aviation industry tomorrow. The pack will be unveiled to representatives of worldwide aviation unions meeting at the ITF in London this week, and will then be available on request and to download from www.itfglobal.org/infocentre/pubs.cfm/detail/36164

The publication of the resource pack is the direct result of a survey* on how HIV/AIDS affects aviation personnel which was released by the ITF on World AIDS Day 2010. That survey revealed widely differing responses to and knowledge of the issue and signalled the need for new research, policies and also materials – for which this pack is the response. Read more...

The ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) released a survey today, World Aids Day, which examines the prevalence of – and attitudes to – HIV/Aids among civil aviation workers.

The survey draws on the experience of the ITF’s civil aviation unions worldwide*. It reveals differing knowledge of and responses to HIV/Aids and highlights the need for further research and the development of programmes and policies to tackle the effects of the virus.

The survey is released for World Aids Day, December 1st, in downloadable form, at http://www.itfglobal.org/civil-aviation/study.cfm. Spanish and French language versions and a hard copy edition follow.

The exercise was designed to test the need for more programmes, by the ITF, by trade unions, and by others. It has shown that such a need exists, and the ITF is now committed to putting these in place. Read more...

Who we are - An information leaflet on the Turkish Civil Aviation Union (Hava-Is)

Out Now!

The Turkish Civil Aviation Union (Hava-Is) is pleased to announce the publication of "Who we are - An information leaflet on the Turkish Civil Aviation Union (Hava-Is)."

This booklet is the first publication of Hava-Is in English and aims to introduce the union to its non-Turkish speaking members.

The booklet gives a popular history of the union as well as a chronology of recent events and disputes with some analysis.

As it is mentioned in the booklet, this is the first of a series that Hava-Is is planning to publish in English. The second one will aim to provide our non-Turkish speaking members basic information regarding the present state of industrial relations in Turkey. Read more...

A new publication from the International Transport Workers' Federation

The ITF and the ILO have undertaken research into the impact of the financial crisis on aviation workers and commended the study ‘The Impact of the Financial Crisis on Labour in the Civil Aviation Industry’ by Professor Peter Turnbull of Cardiff University and Dr. Geraint Harvey of Swansea University. The findings are summarised in an publication that has updated the “Contesting the Crisis” document (from the same authors and published by the ITF) on the effects on workers of the 2001 crisis.

This ITF Report documents the findings of research commissioned by the ILO to examine the impact of the global financial crisis on the major civil aviation markets of the world economy, namely: North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, along with connecting intercontinental markets (some data have been gathered, en passant, for Africa, South America and the Middle East). The research focuses on the restructuring of several different types or category of airline, namely: scheduled/full service, regional, low cost and charter. In addition, information has been obtained from the air navigation service providers (ANSPs) that support civil aviation. Read more...

Changes from 2000 – 2007 in civil aviation workers’ conditions of work

A global study of 116 countries in Africa, Asia/Pacific, Middle East, North America, Latin/South America, and Europe in the post – 9/11 era

This study highlights the changes in Civil Aviation workers’ conditions between 2000 and 2007 and is being published just as the Civil Aviation Section of the ITF turns 60 years old.

The real problem came with deregulation, starting at the end of the 1970s and eventually leading to the disappearance of thousands of high quality jobs along with most of the ‘legacy airlines’ that provided them. Neo-liberal dogma dictated that the best course for the industry was to privatise and to outsource as many of its operations as possible. Time would unfortunately prove this strategy to be ineffective and potentially dangerous – an ICAO study from 2005 found that too much liberalisation has led to the loss of control over safety. Read more...