On 4 June, our European structure, ECA, participated in a high-level conference on social issues organised by the European Commission, with the aim of setting a “Social agenda for transport”.

ECA’s Vice-President, Jon Horne, made a speech explaining the pilots’ perspective on employment and working conditions in the aviation sector. ECA’s message was straight-forward: decent employment conditions and fair rules are a must to the future of aviation. This meeting was an important first step in the recognition by the European Commission of the challenges raised by growing practices such as flags of convenience, pay to fly, bogus self-employment, etc. Stakeholders from the whole industry were invited, speaking with one voice: these practices must stop and the EU Commission has a role to play. We hope that this meeting will set the path to new legislation on these issues.

For more information on the meeting, please have a look at https://www.eurocockpit.be/node/2292 and https://www.eurocockpit.be/stories/20150604/european-transport-an-ugly-social-reality-behind-the-fa-ade.