KARACHI, Dec 28: Speakers at a press conference on Wednesday demanded that duty hours of the PIA cabin crew be made in accordance with the international standards so that the safety of passengers and aircraft is not compromised.

Speaking at the press conference at Karachi Press Club, the representatives of International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) Jalil Shah, Iqbal Shaikh, Razaq Dawood, Mohammad Sohail, Shamim Akmal and others pointed out that number of cabin crew had been lowered in each flight and the crew was being forced to perform 18-hour duty in place of its earlier accepted 10-hour duty.

They demanded that extra passengers should not be taken on board, and the number of crew be brought at par with international standards, duty hours of the crew be reverted to the earlier 10 hour duty and the facilities and allowances of the crew which have been lowered or withdrawn be restored so that passenger safety is ensured.

They demanded that trade union activities in PIA be restored and all workers and CBA union leaders, including Ashraf Chaudhry, Shamim Akmal, Sajjid Abbasi, who had been sacked for highlighting the workers problems be reinstated immediately.