There is great uncertainty surrounding travel in the coming days. Travel for Christmas celebrations may be complicated by the strikes that have been called at three airlines. Ryanair cabin crew members continue with their protests due to the dispute they have with the company, Vueling cabin crew members continue their protests which started in November and Air Nostrum pilots, who mainly operate Iberia’s inter-island flights, have called a strike from Thursday 22nd.
The Ryanair cabin crew strike has now been a simmering conflict for months, in which even the Labor Inspectorate has intervened because it considers that the airline has violated their right to strike during the mobilizations called by the unions USO and Sitcpla since the beginning of last summer. This week they continue with the strikes, since yesterday, and will continue on December 21st, 22nd, 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th. And also in January on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th. Ernesto Iglesias, responsible for the air sector in USO, points out that workers are free to support the strikes and recalls the 40 dismissals of crew members since the summer for supporting the strike which has been carried out by the Irish airline. “We hope that they will be reinstated” after the Labor Inspection report, which also points out that the company replaced striking workers with others not linked to the work centers brought from other countries
Minimizing the impact of strikes
For its part, Ryanair minimizes the strike: “We do not expect disruptions in our Christmas operations as a result of strikes poorly supported by two minority cabin crew unions in Spain”. And they claim, as in recent months, that they have closed a labor agreement “with the largest and most representative Spanish cabin crew union, CCOO, which offers significant improvements in pay and conditions for our cabin crew based in Spain”
At Vueling, cabin crew have been on strike since November and their protest affects these upcoming high traffic days, including December 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 30th and 31st. And in January, on the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, 8th and 9th. The low-cost airline from the Iberia group sends a message of reassurance via this newspaper. Until January 8th, all flights that are on sale will be operated, in addition to the fact that Vueling has already contacted the affected passengers, so that they were informed and they have either been reallocated on other flights or they were offered to be reimbursed for the price of the ticket.
The Vueling strike, called by Stavla, the majority union among cabin crew, began on November 1st which caused an impact due to cancellations, but passengers will not be affected during these holidays, according to the airline.
Air Nostrum, whose flights are marketed by Iberia due to the franchise agreement between both airlines, and operates inter-island flights mainly in the Balearic Islands, is still negotiating with the pilots union Sepla, according to the airline, and today the meetings continue in an attempt to reach an agreement. The strike is called for Thursday 22nd and continues on December 23rd, 26th, 27th, 29th and 30th and January 2nd and 3rd. The minimum service plan continues.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.