Airline Imposes Curfew on Employees

03/18/2014 - 09h15

The job announcement entices: the possibility to dine in Paris, lunch in New York and have breakfast in Montreal.

A tax-free salary, housing and transportation paid - and the chance to live in the Middle East as a flight attendant for one of the most prestigious airlines in the world, Qatar Airways.

It's all true, but it's not the whole truth about life and work in Qatar, according to crew members who quit voluntarily and returned to Brazil in the last four years.

The face of the little-known company sponsoring the Spanish team Barcelona includes a curfew, with a set time to arrive home even on days off: flight attendants are prohibited to sleep somewhere other than their own homes when they're in Doha, there unannounced home inspections, and guests are not allowed after 10 p.m.

Apartment buildings in Doha that are home to flight attendants are under 24-hour camera surveillance. Employees use a card that registers the exact time they enter and leave the buildings, which house men and women separately.

Those who break the rules are confronted with images taken by the surveillance cameras. This happened to Vinicius Barea, the only one who agreed to speak without anonymity, and who arrived 14 minutes late on his day off at 3:44 a.m. instead of 3:30 a.m., the curfew at the time (it is now 4 a.m.).

FIRED

He was with his boyfriend, who was also on duty the next day, meaning he broke another rule: he was not home 12 hours before a flight. Both were fired.

To circumvent the rule, there are those who sleep at the home of a friend and bring an extra change of clothes. They then arrive the next morning at their own apartment as if they were, for example, at the gym.

The curfew applies only to flight attendants; pilots do not need to follow the rule. According to Qatar, they are older and more mature.

Employees say that it's not always clear when hired that the rules are so strict. Qatar denies this statement.

Part of the rigidness is due to the fact that Qatar, host of the 2022 World Cup, is Islamic. The country denies visas to people with HIV, prohibits the consumption of alcohol in most places and of pork, for example.

DEPORTED

Still in training, Álvaro (names are fictitious) was brought to the company office. There was something wrong with his blood test. From there, without any explanation, he was sent to a prison reserved for deportees to have his fingerprints taken.

Later on, he found out that he had been fired and would have to return to Brazil the same day. He only discovered the reason when he was on the plane and an employee of the Brazilian Embassy in Doha gave him the news: his blood test had shown that he had HIV, something he had suspected, but had not yet confirmed.

"It was inhumane. I went to the airport without eating, without showering, and only with the clothes on my back. I got my HIV diagnosis by phone, without a psychologist or anyone else to help."

Today Álvaro works at a Brazilian company that knows about his condition.

PREGNANCY

Pregnancy and marriage are banned at Qatar Airways. Newly hired employees promise not to get married or pregnant for a fixed period.

Rosa was not bothered by the company rules, but said she left because she wanted to get married. Today, she works for a Brazilian airline. Other former employees also say they don't see the disadvantages. "It's a good opportunity to travel the world," said Valéria.

Qatar currently has 49 Brazilian flight attendants, of which 12 are in training. Salaries vary from R$ 6,000 to R$ 12,000. The initial salary is commensurate with the amount paid in Brazil, but the tax exemption is an advantage.

Unions for flight attendants are prohibited in Qatar. The treatment of those in this category has pushed the ITF (International Transport Workers' Federation) to plan to bring the Qatar case to the International Labor Organization. In 2013, ITF complained to the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization).

Translated by JILL LANGLOIS

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