Spain, France, Belgium, Portugal, Italy: everywhere the hostesses and stewards (PNC) demand respect for labor law and increases.
The European sky is darkening a little more as the summer season approaches with the proliferation of strike calls in several airlines where employees, under pressure from the sudden resumption of traffic, are demanding an improvement in their working conditions. work. Anger spread like wildfire at Ryanair. In a few weeks, unions in five countries called the company’s employees to strike next weekend. Spain, France, Belgium, Portugal, Italy: everywhere the hostesses and stewards (PNC) demand respect for labor law and wage increases as the Irish company prepares for a flourishing summer with activity greater than that of 2019.
In France, “the company does not respect the rest times as provided for by the civil aviation code”, said the representative of the National Union of Commercial Flight Crew (SNPNC) Damien Mourgues. His union is also asking for a salary increase for employees who are “paid at minimum wage”. Two days of strike have been announced for Saturday and Sunday in France by the SNPC, union of hostesses and stewards. In Spain, the USO and SITCPLA unions are calling on the Irish company’s cabin crew to go on strike on June 24, 25, 26 and 30 as well as July 1 and 2.
In Portugal, Ryanair staff are also called to mobilize from June 24 to 26 to protest against the deterioration of working conditions, as in Belgium. The company assured Tuesday that it did not expect “major disruptions”. “These strikes by minority unions are not supported by our crews. None participated in the Italian strike on July 8,” Ryanair management said. “We have been negotiating for several months an improvement in collective agreements, which concern 90% of employees in Europe”, and “these negotiations are going well”, continued the company.
EasyJet too
The anger also affects the British low-cost EasyJet since the Union Syndicale Ouvrier (USO) is planning a nine-day strike in July at the airports of Barcelona, Malaga and Mallorca in the Balearic Islands. This movement will result in walkouts from Friday to Sunday for three of the four weekends in July, the USO said. Only July 23 and 24 remain spared at this stage. According to the USO, “EasyJet’s flight crew in Spain currently have a base salary of 950 euros” per month, the “lowest salary” of “all bases in Europe”. The company wanted to “reassure its customers” on Tuesday, assuring that all its flights are maintained this weekend and that it “will do everything to avoid disruptions”. However, if the action is maintained, EasyJet expects “some disruption” to its flights from these Spanish airports.
On June 12 and 13, a strike had already caused the cancellation of a quarter of Ryanair’s program in France, ie around forty flights. Michael O’Leary, the general manager of Ryanair, brushed aside the proliferation of these social movements. “We operate 2,500 flights a day. Most of these flights will continue to operate, even if a + Mickey + union strikes in Spain or if the Belgian cabin crew unions want to strike here,” he said during the meeting. a press conference in Brussels on 14 June. On Sunday, the Ryanair pilots decided to join their cabin crew colleagues and called in turn to stop work from Friday. The staff of the national company Brussels Airlines, a subsidiary of Lufthansa, are on strike from Thursday for three days.
Low-cost airlines are experiencing a dazzling rebound in activity since the lifting of restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. With the rapid resumption of traffic, many companies find themselves forced to cancel flights due to lack of staff. At airports, staff shortages are also causing serial cancellations and lengthening queues. At Paris-Charles de Gaulle, employees are called upon to stop working from July 1. On Monday, the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) warned in an open letter that “the chaos facing the airline industry will only worsen throughout the summer as workers are pushed to their limits”.