German flight attendants' union: Sexual harassment a 'serious problem'

The German union for independent flight attendantsUFO said Tuesday that sexual harassment in the industry was a"serious problem.""It happens to men as well, although women are harassed morefrequently," said Sylvia Gassner, who has been tasked by the unionwith the issue for the past two years. "It is a serious problem, onethat is too often ignored."There are hardly any figures on victims of sexual harassment in theindustry, although UFO published a report in May that found that onein two crew members had been sexually harassed at their workplace.  Most instances of harassment occurred on board the plane, the surveyfound. In 45 per cent of cases, the perpetrator was the flightattendant's superior, such as a pilot. In a quarter of cases, theflight attendants said they were harassed by staff members of thesame rank or by passengers.The survey was criticized for being openly accessible on UFO'swebsite. However, Gassner said that the survey, which had more than1,000 respondents, was "consistent with the reports I have receivedfrom colleagues."