Share It On

In May 2007, fifty representatives from all over Europe gathered at an ECA Seminar in Brussels, to discuss the challenges faced by pilots and their associations due to the 'trans-nationalisation' of the aviation industry. The Seminar, supported by the European Commission, included valuable contributions from the Commission, European Parliament, Eurofound, NAUTILUS and ETF.

The programme included 3 Workshops where participants discussed organisation and representation, process & scope of bargaining and enforceability of collective agreements. Some key results were that pilots and airlines have to realise the value of agreeing on common standards to succeed in this new environment. Also pilots' associations need to cooperate and adapt to better represent all pilots, wherever in Europe their employers base them.

On the whole, participants agreed that tools should be developed to allow trans-national bargaining at European-level. Pilots, therefore, supported the preparation of a voluntary framework as a first step towards a European system of trans-national bargaining.