Everything we know about the controversy of the hostesses and their underwear selection process

January 1, 2023. A new year began and with it a new controversy surrounded the aviation industry. Even with the emotional hangover of the 31st, eldiario.es launched an exclusive issue that would undoubtedly be on the current affairs map for a whole week. That reports the digital newspaper the recruitment company Meccti is said to have seriously violated the rules regarding the recruitment of flight attendantswhich the Ministry of Labor and Social Security stipulates in the applicable law, forcing the participants in the process to undress and remain in their underwear.

But how was this sexist recruiting scheme exposed? It was one of the participants themselves who decided to denounce this fact publicly through the networks, together with two other colleagues who offered their statement to the newspaper eldiario.es. In this conversation The sources refer to an artificial process where, apart from languages ​​or trajectories, they valued the physique of the participants, even going so far as to eliminate all male participants in the first stage who could not be selected according to the company’s requirements simply because they were not born in Kuwait (the airline’s country of origin).

A long list of errors, criticisms and inconsistencies that placed Meccti in the eye of the hurricane and which today entered the investigation phase by the Department of Labor itself. Do you want to know more about the conspiracy around Kuwait Airways and the recruitment company Meccti? Below we tell you step by step the research and all the details about this controversial recruitment process.

The call was made by the Arab recruitment company Meccti, which periodically announces offers for airlines such as Kuwait Airways. A selection process presented through social networks where, in addition, some of the basic requirements for participating in the selection process can be consulted, such as “height and weight in relation to a minimum height of 160 cm”, “medically fit, fit to pass a medical examination in Kuwait”, or “excellent physical appearance” among other things.

The controversial trial in question took place in a room in the Meliá Barajas hotel, on the outskirts of the city, very close to terminals 1 and 2 of Madrid airport. As the digital newspaper indicates, from the beginning of the tests, offensive comments against the participants who attended the appointment began such as “We don’t like your smile” to “You have a rollercoaster body” or “You’re too chubby.” Although, as we pointed out in previous lines, the hardest part of the process is yet to come.

After passing this first screening of applicants by physique or gender (many of them had long professional careers and more than five languages), the rest of the participants, all women, were called up one by one to only participate in a second phase participate , in a living room. A stage of the process in which they had to unbutton shirts, pull up sweaters and skirts in the presence of a woman, in short, they had to remain in their underwear so that the recruiter could examine their body from top to bottom, a practice that is also illegal in Spain.

The assistants gave no appreciation for the process they went through. Many of those who were already accustomed to different processes to gain entry as a cabin technician saw that nothing was normal in this process, neither the requirements nor, let alone, the actions to achieve the goal: to get a position with the airline that seats offered.

As Bianca, one of those affected, pointed out on eldiario.es “The first girl who came in came out crying and told us they made her take off almost all of her clothes except her underwear. It was her first interview. The others came out and said the same thing, I had a hard time believing it , I was shocked. But they were not exaggerating “, “She asked me to pull up my dress. I pulled it up a little bit, it came to just below my knee, and she pulled it up to my panties. The dress had a zipper in the back and she asked me to pull it down to the waist and stay in a bra. She said it was to see that we had no scars, moles, tattoos. She turned and looked exaggeratedly at my body “ continuous.

But not only Bianca had to go through this “atypical” process, another source of the paper, Mariana, 23, confirmed each of Bianca’s notes: “He asked me if I could unbutton the top of my shirt. He touched my arm to get me to take it off. I stayed in a bra with the skirt and stockings. He looked at my arms, staring at me from the front and back. You feel like a zoo animal. I was writing in a notebook”.

The seriousness of this information is so serious that since a few days the Ministry of Labor and Social Security has opened an investigation to clarify the facts and condemn the inappropriate behavior of the recruitment company. Joaquín Pérez Rey, Secretary of State for Employment, emphatically stated during a press conference last Tuesday that this practice “absolutely unbearable” Y “That violates people’s dignity.”

For his part, Meccti denies everything and after a resounding silence from the outlet when releasing the exclusive, he has prepared a press release issued by the Molins Criminal Defense agency distancing the company from any process and accusing all proceedings. defamatory information shared. “The company categorically denies the veracity of the defamatory statements made by those who participated in the selection process, and especially that the interviews took place with degrading behaviors such as those denounced, completely detached from the company’s protocols in its recruitment processes”defended the law firm.

How then do the facts stand? As explained by the recruitment company, Meccti, in this statement, the responsibility lies with a subcontracting company, Meiservices Sarl, based in Morocco. In this issue the company assures that there was “no MECCTI employee”. since it “has no subsidiary in Spain”. Will it be true? Who is to blame? There are still many unknowns that are yet to be resolved and that we are sure we will know very soon.