Background information

The global COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the aerospace sector, most notably in civil aeronautics. The collapse of commercial flights, resulted in airlines cancelling or postponing new orders leading to disastrous effects on the European manufacturing sector. These included a huge reduction in demand, production cuts, transport restrictions, supply problems, delays, cash-flow problems and the stoppage of some ‘’noncritical’’ work.

On 16 October 2020 the European Trade Union IndustriAll representing, i.a. employees of this sector called for European solutions to rescue it presenting aerospace recovery plan ‘Flying into recovery’.

Content of measure

IndustriAll Europe stress that the European aerospace industry has long been a brilliant example of a truly European industrial project with a high-tech value chain spread right across Europe. Member States are currently scrambling for national solutions, forgetting the sector's European dimension that requires a European solution. European federation is calling for urgent action at European level and the immediate creation of a European Task Force which will implement European solutions to protect the sector and safeguard thousands of high-quality jobs throughout Europe.

IndustriAll Europe calls on EU policy makers to adopt an ambitious industrial recovery plan post COVID-19 that pays due attention to the needs of the aerospace sector and restores the capacity of the sector to generate the cashflows needed to invest in a sustainable future.

Use of measure

The plan is to maintain 600,000 jobs.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Applies to all workers	Sector specific set of companies	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
Trade unions	European Funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative	No involvement
Form	Any other form of consultation, institutionalised (as stable working groups or committees) or informal	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Only trade unions
• Main level of involvement: EU level

Involvement

An independent initiative of the European Trade Union IndustriAll.

Views and reactions

Trade unions back their own initiative. The employers' reaction is as yet unknown.

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 16 October 2020: Aerospace: skills policy must be part of a wider European recovery plan for the sector (news.industriall-europe.eu)