The unions of the Irish low-cost airline Ryanair call to harden the movement and announce a series of strikes from August to January 2023.
Spanish airports are not at the end of their troubles. Between a massive return of travellers, companies lacking staff since the pandemic and the strikes, the next few days and weeks are likely to be chaotic. Low-cost companies have been observing strike movements since the beginning of the summer to protest against their working conditions. easyJet staff have therefore been on strike at Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca and Malaga airports for several weekends in July and will be on strike again from Friday 29 to Sunday 31 July.
But it is at Ryanair that the movement is the most tenacious. The unions have just announced a five-month strike, which will run from Monday to Thursday from 8 August 2022 through 7 January 2023. A movement which should therefore spare weekend flights but will probably cause disruptions in air traffic and routing of baggage.
The employees of the 10 Ryanair bases in Spain, who work under Irish standards, demand the same rights as all Spanish workers and in particular the same number of vacation days, respect for the legislation on public holidays, the right to adjustment of working hours, respect for the right to strike and the end of redundancies. The unions are also calling for the “immediate reinstatement” of the 11 employees dismissed because they went on strike in June and July as well as the cessation of disciplinary proceedings affecting a hundred other strikers.
Ryanair expects minimal (if any) disruptions in Spain this winter
Ryanair reacted to this threat. The airline has recently reached an agreement with the main Spanish cabin crew union (CCOO) on pay, rosters and allowances for its Spanish cabin crew. Recent strikes by minority unions USO/SITCPLA have been poorly supported by cabin crew and have had minimal – if any – effect on Ryanair flights. Ryanair operates over 3,000 daily flights (almost 100,000 per month) and less than 1% of these flights have been affected by Spanish cabin crew disruptions. Ryanair expects minimal (if any) disruption to its schedules, “even on days when these minority unions USO/SITCPLA are holding their ineffective and poorly supported actions“, an airline spokesperson told Aviation24.be.
