Latvian Aviation Union (LAU) is a trade union and provides social and legal support for those who work in aviation (cabin crew, pilots, technicians, other aviation sector employees. In April 2020 it has reached more than 300 members. LAU was established in 2012, as a Union that took over the rights and history of the former cabin crew union. Considering the importance of teamwork, role of every employee in securing the safety of flights, it was decided to ensure it represents all employees and does not distinguish between specific groups, like before, only cabin crew.
Currently LAU has 3 part-time employees working on legal and social questions and an accountant that supports organization to ensure correct, transparent and effective use of resources.
Main achievements of LAU have been:
- Securing clear interpretation in court of the “normal working time” for flight crew (pilots and cabin crew) to mean 160 hours in 28 days, preventing effort to change working time to mandatory overtime of maximum 190 hours;
- Number of individual cases settled out of court for unfair dismissal or non-payment of salaries;
- First collective case in progress in appeal, and first instance judgement securing principle of payment of per-diems to flight crew for duty trips, instead of arbitrary amount set by company for food purchasing;
- 4 new collective complaints in court to secure that cabin crew and pilots should not work 7-8 days without weekly rest, to secure that all working time is accounted for, to secure equal pay and taking up the concept of pay (is dividends salary or?), and very recently - forced transfer of AirBaltic pilots to its subsidiary Aviation Crew Resources, thus changing fundamentally employment relationships.