Aviation sector has enormous potential to sustainably fuel decent work

BRUSSELS (ILO News) - An aviation conference entitled: “Europe's Flight Plan to a Sustainable Future”, organized by the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU, gathered major EU aviation stakeholders, including the ILO, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the European Commission, and a wide number of national aviation authorities.

During the economic panel debate on ‘Ensuring a level-playing field with non-European players’, Alejandra Cruz Ross, Transport Specialist at the ILO, highlighted the ILO’s mandate in the field of civil aviation. She explained that in 2022, in the aftermath of the pandemic, the ILO renewed its collaboration with ICAO through a cooperation Agreement. In his opening speech, Juan Carlos Salazar, ICAO’s Secretary-General, had acknowledged the ongoing collaboration between the ILO and ICAO.

"If the sector gets it act right in terms of decarbonization, it still has enormous potential to grow and to sustainably fuel decent work"

Ms Cruz Ross highlighted

She later explained that in an ILO technical meeting in the civil aviation sector held in April 2023, workers, employers and governments have agreed on a roadmap of recommendations for future action.

The roadmap instructs the ILO to further expand and deepen its collaboration with ICAO, including “towards evaluating the need for effective labour and social standards specifically as it pertains to aviation, particularly on key occupational safety and health concerns, such as work and rest times”. It also requests the ILO to conduct research on recruitment and retention of aviation workers and the promotion of diversity to thereafter possibly convene at a later stage a meeting of experts.

When asked about the possibility for the ILO to develop an instrument similar to the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, for the aviation sector, she explained that the regulatory history of aviation is much more recent than that of other sectors like road transport and shipping, and it is still developing.

She concluded by highlighting that the ILO’s “toolbox” consists of a range of options in the form of tripartite meetings, joint working groups, resource mobilization, and different ways with interacting and collaborating with UN sister agencies and bodies.