  JAL's cost cutting is compromising safetyAkahata editorial Japan Airlines, at the order of National Land Infrastructure and Transport Ministry to improve business operations and reduce problems regarding safe air transport has submitted a report stating how it will improve its flight operations. However, ambiguities remain regarding management responsibility, casting doubts on whether the proposed measures will help ensure safe air transport. Workers' voices not heard Problems arose in the areas of maintenance, operation, and cabin attendants, and they might have led to a major accident. The report said that the background to these troubles was the tight flight schedules at the expense of a weakened understanding that safety is imperative as well as inappropriate efforts to make everyone involved abide by this principle. The problem is that the report does not analyze why safety precautions have become weak. For example, a cabin attendant who erred over operating an electronically controlled emergency exit belongs to a team consisting mostly of contracted attendants with little experience. The company brought in cabin attendants, which requires good teamwork, with discrimination between regular workers and contracted workers. This resulted in an atmosphere in which everyone dares not speak out about safety inadequacies. Under the company order to help increase profits before ensuring safety, cabin attendants have to do in-flight sales. Since ten years ago, JAL stopped employing ita own maintenance staff and shifted to commissioning the work to subsidiaries and maintenance companies abroad. Inadequate maintenance such as corrosion or cracks are frequently detected on the body of aircraft that underwent maintenance abroad. Workers who care about safe transport have many times pointed out that excessive cost cuts endanger safe aviation. The management has ignored such warnings and proceeded with hunting for more profits at the expense of safety. After the 1985 JAL crash, JAL was determined not to repeat such an accident and upheld the policies of "absolute safety" and "respect for first-hand opinion." These principles have been completely overturned. No effective safety measures will be possible by simply shifting the responsibility onto the workers in charge, unless the management examines its own responsibility. While making no reflection on its policy of pursuing as large a profit as possible, JAL is pushing ahead with restructuring in pursuit of even more profits. The JAL group in its three-year business plan from 2005 states that JAL must be restructured to ensure profits under any circumstances. It plans to reduce its personnel by 5,900 in this period, expecting to gain more than 100 billion yen in profits in 2007. These policies of JAL are increasing the anxiety and distrust among users. JAL's profit-first and safety-second policy will result in a decline of JAL users that will weaken its managerial basis. The Aviation Law (Article 1) provides that airlines must "increase public welfare" in order to ensure traffic safety and users' benefits. Airlines are specifically called upon to maintain traffic safety, unlike corporations in other fields just seeking to make as much profit as possible. Only when they fulfill their responsibilities will they regain users' trust. The government is also responsible for easing regulatory measures concerning aviation that eventually led to an increase in accidents. By allowing the entry of newcomers to the airline business, a race has been intensifying in cutting cost along with cutting fares. Ensure "air safety" The government also relaxed regulations on aircraft safety checks. Inspections and arrangements necessary for safety have been outsourced to related firms and overseas services. These jobs used to be done first by service staff members and then by special inspectors, but JAL reduced the number of checks. JAL's competition- and interest-first policy that will endanger "air safety" must be changed. As a public traffic firm responsible to users, JAL is called upon to stop its cost-cut/interest-first policy and establish "air safety" measures by respecting the demands of airline workers and users. (Akahata, April 22, 2005) |