The Ukrainian Association of Civil Aviation Flight Personnel, which is a trade union, is not ruling out the possibility of organizing strikes at Ukrainian airlines in the near future, citing the European Court’s decision of 2 October that grants the right to engage in this form of protest, the CFTS correspondent reports.

"A strike is not far off if the owners of Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) do not start normal dialogue with its staff," the association’s Vice President Veniamin Tymoshenko said at a press conference on Wednesday.

According to him, the UIA has no primary trade union organization, but information from its employees indicates that numerous cases of gross violation of the labor laws are taking place within the airline company.

"There are three trade unions there. Only one of them - the trade union of pilots - is still defending their interests somewhat. The ground personnel are suffering. Activists have approached us: they also want to create a primary trade union organization from our All-Ukrainian Association of Flight Personnel to defend their rights," said Tymoshenko.

In addition, according to him, violations of the labor laws are being observed at almost all the airlines in Ukraine.

"In particular, we have a primary trade union organization at the UTair Ukraine airline. The carrier began paying wages to the day about a month ago under pressure from us. However, more than one year’s worth of wages is owed there. The argument that the right to strike now exists will be a very effective tool in negotiations with employers from the viewpoint of compliance with the law," Tymoshenko said.

As reported, the European Court of Human Rights ruled on 2 October that the Ukrainian court decision of October 2011 that prohibited employees of the AeroSvit airline from going on strike violated the European Convention on Human Rights. The European court also ordered the Ukrainian government to pay EUR 20,000 to former employees of the AeroSvit airline because of the court ruling that prohibited them from striking.

According to Tymoshenko, this decision grants all transport industry workers the legal right to go on strike.