The law firm specialised in European and international law, Navas & Cusí, has filed a complaint with the European Commission and with the European Parliament’s Committee on Petitions on behalf of the Independent Union of Airline Cabin Crew Members (SITCPLA).
The complaint focuses on the difficulties faced by cabin crew members (CCTs) in accessing early retirement, in contrast to the privileges granted to other flight workers.
While the 1960 Air Navigation Act included Flight Attendants as part of flight crews, they are not covered by Royal Decree 1559/1986 of 28 June 1986, which reduces the retirement age for flight personnel in aerial work, and allows reductions in the minimum years of contribution to qualify for retirement.
Although flight attendants work under special conditions of danger and hardship like other airline workers, they cannot take early retirement with the same benefits as other airline professionals (aircraft mechanics, navigators, aerial photographic operators, pilots, technological equipment operators, among others) who do enjoy this right, constituting a significant discrimination.
In other E.U. countries, as in the specific case of France, the TCPs who take early retirement and have accumulated twenty-five years of service, benefit from a full pension, given the specific regime to which they belong.
Overwhelmingly, statistically, the TCPs are a group where more than 75% are women. According to European case law and Directive 2006/54 on the implementation of the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment, indirect discrimination on grounds of sex constitutes a situation where persons of one sex are placed at a particular disadvantage compared to persons of the other sex, in that it adversely affects a significantly higher proportion of persons of one sex.
From its Brussels office, the law firm Navas & Cusíthrough its European Union law lawyers and with its legal director Juan Ignacio Navas Marqués at the head, hopes that this legal action will guarantee equal opportunities for all workers in the airline industry, and will allow Spain to amend its regulations once and for all to bring them into line with European legislation.
Various national and international media outlets have picked up this momentous news:
- https://www.abc.es/economia/azafatas-denuncian-espana-ante-bruselas-discriminacion-jubilacion-20230912180130-nt.html
- https://www.larazon. es/economia/azafatas-vuelo-denuncian-espana-comision-europea-discriminacion-jubilacion_202309121265006d82d60bc60001c860ab.html
- https://cincodias.elpais. com/companias/2023-09-12/el-sindicato-sitcpla-denuncia-a-espana-en-bruselas-por-discriminacion-a-las-azafatas-de-vuelo.html
- https://www.eldebate. com/international/20230912/azafatas-denuncian-ante-comision-europea-discriminacion-genero-respecto-jubilacion-dos-volamos-me-mis-avion_139314.html
- https://theobjective.com/espana/politica/2023-09-12/azafatas-irene-montero-discriminacion/
- https://www.lainformacion.com/economia-negocios-y-finanzas/azafatas-vuelo-denuncian-espana-bruselas-discriminacion-laboral/2891925/
- https://www.actuall.com/economia/las-azafatas-denuncian-en-bruselas-a-igualdad-por-discriminacion-de-genero/
- https://www.elperiodico.com/es/economia/20230912/azafatas-vuelo-denuncian-espana-bruselas-jubilacion-92014448
- https://www.heraldo.es/noticias/nacional/2023/09/13/azafatas-denuncian-desigualdad-jubilacion-pilotos-1677533.html
