AFA-CWA Gains Ground in Fight to Deny Norwegian Air a Run-around U.S. Labor Laws

As the U.S. Department of Transportation deliberates on an application by Norwegian Air for a permit to run flights in and out of U.S. airports, a coalition of U.S. and European unions, including the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, is making headway pressuring the DOT to protect jobs and deny NAI what it wants.

AFA-CWA activists lobby members of Congress on Capitol Hill and urge them to oppose the Norwegian Air deal that will harm flight attendant and airline industry jobs.

Below: Click on the photo to read the full text of the letter sent to Secretary Foxx.

The transportation unions object to the scheme by NAI to operate as an Irish carrier under Ireland's regulatory laws but not serve or base planes in Ireland. It also wants to use low-cost contract workers from a Singaporean company. Employees of NAI's parent company are based in Norway, belong to a union and, as a result, are better paid and have benefits.

AFA International President Sara Nelson said this is a scheme to get around labor laws embedded in the U.S.-E.U. Open Skies agreement as well as Norwegian labor law.

"Norwegian Air is not offering competition, it is practicing manipulation. The U.S./E.U. Open Skies Agreement prohibits undercutting labor standards for a reason," Nelson said.

Former DOT Secretary Ray LaHood wrote an Op-Ed in The Hill newspaper discussing his serious concerns about the NAI application and the need for enforcement of carefully negotiated labor standards between the U.S. and European partners. "We spent many hours negotiating this provision with Europe and its importance to this application should not be overlooked," he wrote.

AFA-CWA is an advocate for strong international labor standards. Trade deals have a huge impact on the future of U.S. airline passenger service, aviation jobs and the competitiveness of our nation's air carriers. And NAI isn't the only problem. Right now, trade negotiators are discussing the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a trade agreement that could change our current aviation traffic rights agreement with the European Union, likely weakening foreign ownership and control laws.

If the DOT allows NAI to set up a "flag of convenience" business model, it will open the door to every other airline to do the same and lead to the destruction of the U.S. aviation industry, good U.S. jobs and all of the safety standards our unions have achieved.

On November 19, 35 AFA-CWA activists from 11 airlines visited their members of Congress, urging them to protect Flight Attendant jobs. The AFA-CWA members started the day with the signatures of about 50 members of Congress who agreed to sign on to the bipartisan letter being circulated by Representatives Chris Collins of New York and Albio Sires of New Jersey to DOT Secretary Foxx, urging him to deny the NAI application. When they left, the letter had 188 signatures. Read the letter here.