Sacked Japanese Workers Protest THY

Japanese cabin crew, who were dismissed from the Turkish Airlines organized a protest at Narita International Airport.

Workers divided into two groups and gave handouts to passengers in front of the THY counters.

Turkey's union of civilian aviation workers, Hava-İş had condemned the dismissals, claiming lack of Japanese crew on outbound flights to Tokyo jeopardized flight safety and 11 crewmembers were unfairly dismissed upon organizing at the union.

Until recently, the THY had four native Japanese speaking members on flights to Japan. They made safety announcements in Japanese and enabled communication with Japanese passengers.

On November last year, the airline reduced the number to one crew on each flight. Paid based on the number of flights they attend, crew reacted to the decision but failed to get a response from the employer. Later, they organized at the union to defend their rights.

The union established that the Japanese crew were not hired in accordance with the Turkish law and directed them to their counterpart union in Japan. Their lawsuit against the THY is pending.(EZÖ/AGÜ)