Ryanair cabin crew workers in Spain are to go on strike over six days in a bid to improve pay and working conditions at the low-cost carrier, according to a statement from their main unions on Monday.
The walk-out is due to take place from 24-26 June and 30 June, as well as 1-2 July, Spanish unions USO and STCPLA said. The move comes after the unions said salary negotiations with Ryanair broke down last week.
‘We have to resume mobilisation so that the reality of our situation is known and Ryanair is forced to abide by basic labour laws,’ said USO general secretary Lidia Arasanz, the general secretary of USO’s Ryanair section, in a statement.
Ryanair also faces other possible labour actions in Italy, France, Portugal and Belgium, after unions also warned that cabin crews in those countries could go on strike this summer if their demands are not met.
Ryanair has recently said that it has negotiated collective agreements ‘covering 90% of our people across Europe’ and that in recent months ‘we have been negotiating improvements to those agreements as we work through the Covid recovery phase’.
‘Those negotiations are going well and we do not expect widespread disruption this summer,’ the airline said. ‘In Spain, we are pleased to have reached a collective agreement with CCOO, Spain’s largest and most representative union, delivering improvements for Spanish-based cabin crew and reinforcing Ryanair’s commitment to the welfare of its cabin crew.’
The company added that ‘these announcements by the much smaller USO and SITCPLA unions are a distraction from their own failures to deliver agreements after three years of negotiations and we believe that any strikes they call will not be supported by our Spanish crews’.
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