The International Transport Workers’ Federation has launched a consumer boycott of Pakistan International Airlines, claiming the airline and the Pakistani government are victimising aviation workers.
Acting on behalf of eight Pakistani trade unions, the ITF will join with British and Pakistani airline workers to ask members of Britain’s Pakistani and wider communities to join them in the boycott.
Protests will be staged at the Pakistani Consulate in Bradford and a leafleting campaign will target mosques and Sikh temples in Leeds, Bradford and Manchester, followed by action in London.
The ITF claims Pakistan’s national airline, with the support of the country’s government, has attacked union members for years, suspending and sacking them with impunity.
The ITF took Pakistan to the International Labour Organisation, which ruled the government was violating trade union rights
ITF General Secretary David Cockroft explained: “A boycott is a tactic we don’t use lightly, especially against an airline where our people are working, but we’ve tried everything else – from persuasion, to petitions, to the ILO. The trade unions in Pakistan are being hit hard, and they’re asking us to help them hit back.”
The website for the campaign is www.itfglobal.org/boycott-pia
By Bev Fearis
