IALPG’s Principal, Joseph Wheeler, has volunteered to, and been endorsed by, AusALPA, Australia’s member association of the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA), to join IFALPA’s Legal Advisory Group (LAG).
The roles and functions of the LAG, which annually meets in Montreal where it is based, include the following (as published on the IFALPA website: www.ifalpa.org):
Role
To provide legal advice to the Federation as required by the Executive Board or Conference through:
- Responding to requests for legal opinions and the development of positions on legal issues.
- Undertaking specific legal projects assigned by the Executive Officers or Conference.
- Providing legal support and advice to IFALPA’s representatives at International Organisations when requested and authorised to do so by the Executive Board.
Mission
To assist IFALPA in its mission to be the global voice of professional pilots, to promote the highest level of aviation safety world-wide and to provide representation, services and support to its Member Associations.
Relevance
The LAG consists of a mixture of legally trained pilots and qualified lawyers drawn from the IFALPA Member Associations. It has various functions:
Administrative
- It oversees the collection and dissemination of practical legal advice and contact numbers for the use of members involved in accident or incidents away abroad.
- It monitors legal developments in the Member Association countries for possible impact on the members, and advises accordingly, e.g. the introduction of random drug and alcohol testing.
- It shares and compares the application of certain laws in different countries, e.g discrimination laws/labour laws for the mutual benefit of the LAG members.
Legal Advice
- It gives legal advice to other IFALPA committees on request.
- It gives generic legal advice to Member Associations on request.
- It provides general legal guidance to Member Associations on a proactive basis, e.g. the handling of drug and alcohol charges.
Campaigning
- In conjunction with IFALPA committees, it prepares lobbying material and presentations, attends international conferences and other meetings to further the aims of IFALPA, e.g. the campaign to see the universal adoption of Annex 13 and the legal protections contained therein.
- It supports the campaigns of Member Associations where there has been a miscarriage of justice in the legal treatment of a pilot/s because of their work.