Ryanair and Vueling announce strikes

Starting October 1, air traffic will again be disrupted, as pilots and flight attendants from the two airlines are urging the companies for higher pay and better working conditions.

The planed strikes will be coordinated by the Italian Filt Cgil and Uiltrasporti unions, in what will be a suspension of services of 24 hours for Ryanair and four hours for Vueling. The action will be similar to the walkouts during June and July.

“Italian workers (deserve) contracts that guarantee decent working conditions and salaries at least in line with the minimum wages provided for in the national air transport contract of our country ", the union stated.

On the other hand, Ryanair considers unions to be "irrelevant" and expects no impact on the flying schedule.

“Ryanair expects zero impact to our 3,000 daily flights as a result of planned strike action on Sat, 1st Oct by three tiny and irrelevant unions who don’t represent Ryanair staff, are not recognised by Ryanair and have previously held unsupported strikes that have had zero impact on Ryanair’s operations. [...]

"Ryanair has already reached Collective Labour Agreements with 3 major, representative unions in Italy (FIT CISL, ANPAC and ANPAV), which cover all of our Italian crew and deliver accelerated pay restoration, future pay increases, and other benefit improvements for our people,” the carrier’s representatives commented.

Vueling has not issued any statements regarding to cancellations yet.

The move comes in a difficult period, as strikes (Italian airline ITA, French air traffic control, Ryanair financial problems and so on) have already led to considerable delays and cancellations across Europe recently, while hundreds of thousands of passengers have been affected.

The increased inflation rate influencing the cost of daily living is considered to be the main trigger for the protests.

Affected passengers travelling within the EU are entitled to compensation under EU regulation EC 261, for flights that are cancelled or delayed for at least 3 hours.

 

Source: euronews.com