Dubai: A new ruling by a United Nations body has revealed a number of company practices that are found to be “discriminatory” against women who work as crew members in an airline.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has recently revealed in a report that Qatar Airways was guilty of implementing corporate policies and practices that are unfair to women, who constitute the majority of the airline company’s workforce.
The UN body, in its published report, highlighted the following complaints against the airline which were brought to their attention:
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Flying attendants’ employment contracts require female cabin crew to notify the airline if they get pregnant. The airline has the right to terminate the employee’s contract on the grounds of pregnancy. “The right to terminate employment on the grounds of pregnancy has been exercised by the company on many occasions. It was reported to the [International Transport Workers’ Federation] that crew members were compelled to resign upon knowledge of their pregnancy as they did not want to face the humiliation of being dismissed and/or denied the right to repatriation assistance by the company,” the ILO said.
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Staff’s contracts stipulate that employees are obliged to request authorisation to change marital status. There is a marriage bar during the first three to five years of service in the company. Following this period, permission to get married is granted at the discretion of the company.
- The company’s code of practice for cabin crew prohibits women employees from being dropped off or picked up from the company premises by a man other than the father, brother or husband.
The UN body ruled that the airline should remove provisions from its contracts that grant Qatar Airways the right to fire female crew members on the grounds of pregnancy, citing that such policies were discriminatory and contrary to global labour laws.
The agency also recommended that the government take measures to ensure that flying attendants’ contract should stipulate that they are given suitable alternative jobs if they can’t temporarily fly because they are pregnant.
The ILO asked for a review of the airline company’s code of practice that prohibits women from being dropped off or picked up from the company premises by a man other than their father, brother or husband.
“The committee is of the view that this restriction in the company’s code of practice, which only applies to women and which is not a requirement imposed on men cabin crew, amounts to discrimination based on sex,” the ILO said in a report.
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker responded to the UN body’s conclusions on Tuesday by saying that the ILO has a “vendetta” against Qatar and its national carrier.
“I don’t give a damn about the ILO – I am there to run a successful airline,” Al Baker told Reuters at an aviation show in Paris.
“This is evidence of a vendetta they have against Qatar Airways and my country. My country has responded to the ILO accusations in a very robust way. We clarified the clauses in our contracts.”
Government’s response
The government had responded to the workers’ complaints, saying that the policies cannot be considered discriminatory because most of Qatar Airways’ staff are women.
The government pointed out that there was no specific or direct testimony cited, citing that the allegations were based on comments from anonymous sources and an “unreliable” article published in the media.
