The flight attendants and hostesses (cabin crew) working in Nepal Airlines Corporation (NA) have reached the Supreme Court to plead for justice with the claim of unfair and discriminatory treatment against them.
They said that they have been discriminated against, they have introduced a policy of discrimination against the law in services and facilities, so they have submitted a writ petition demanding the cancellation of such provisions.
Cabin crews of Nepal Airline Corporation have approached the Supreme Court demanding justice, saying there is injustice and insecurity in their profession. 135 people, including senior flight attendant Prajita Karki said that 135 people collectively submitted a writ petition in the Supreme Court on Wednesday. In the writ, the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and the Nepal Airlines Corporation have been made opponents.
In the writ petition, it is mentioned that according to the provision in the law regarding the service and conditions of the employees of Nepal Airlines Corporation, flight attendants and flight hostesses are treated differently from other employees and are treated as second class employees. For maintaining the retirement age of the employees at 58 years, the provisions such as retirement at 40 years for flight attendants and air hostesses, the ability to remove any grievances by paying one month's salary, retirement with a contract for the duration of service and not giving gratuity have been demanded.
They claim that they have been working in the same position all their lives and have never been removed without any benefits and no social security has been dealt with. Their complaint is that even a normal company should ensure social service security, and the Nepal Government-owned Airline Corporation has seriously discriminated against its cabin crew. They say that they had to file a writ petition in the Supreme Court because they did not proceed with the improvement process even when they raised the matter with the management several times.
Other employees have received disability allowance when they were disabled due to plane crash. But the flight attendants and air hostesses do not get it, the promotion of the pilots is manual but they are not promoted, and there is also discrimination in medical treatment, so the flight attendants and air hostesses have filed a writ demanding justice, informed lawyer Anantaraj Luintel.
Regarding the reason for approaching the Supreme Court, senior air hostess Prajita Karki, who is also a writ petitioner, said, "We have repeatedly requested the manager to remove the discriminatory provisions in the regulations and treat them equally. However, as our request was not heard, we were forced to come to the Supreme Court for justice."
