The LOT Polish Airlines cockpit and flight attendant strike that started last week (18 October) has not yet come to an end. Today (25 October), the airline was forced to cancel at least 11 flights, yesterday the airline cancelled 12 flights. In a short statement, the airline is speaking about an “illegal strike action“. The crew members are protesting the illegal lay-offs – 67 crew members got sacked on Monday (22 October) – and are demanding better pay and working conditions.
Union members claim that fatigued crew members are regularly mobbed by the airline, in 2013 their salary terms and conditions were terminated and since 2017 “the situation has been getting worse and worse“. The crew members urge their management to “stop all acts of harassment and intimidation of their employees“.
Next to the 67 sacked employees, the crew members also demand the re-employment of union member Monika Zelazik, the union leader that – according to the crew members – has been fired unlawfully and the withdrawal of a reprimand received by captain Adam Rzeszot, the leader of the airline pilot’s union.
LOT spokesman Adrian Kubicki said that the airline’s management is prepared to talk with the protesting crew members but not with the union officials as “they are causing the company millions of zlotys in losses.”
Meanwhile the airline is rebooking and/or accommodating all affected passengers.
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