Ryanair cabin crew unions in Spain call 12 more days of strikes in July

12 more days of strikes at Spanish airports have been called by the Ryanair cabin crew unions.

In a statement released today, Saturday, July 2, USO and Sitcpla, the two Ryanair unions in Spain have called for a further 12 days of strike action by cabin crew. There have already been six days of industrial action across the country, with today supposed to be the final day.

Strike action will now take place at the 10 Spanish airports where Ryanair has bases. These are the facilities at Madrid, Malaga, Sevilla, Alicante, Valencia, Barcelona, ​​Girona, Santiago de Compostela, Ibiza, and Palma de Mallorca. The dates announced for strike action are: July 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, and 28.

Los sindicatos @sitcpla y @USOConfe convocan 12 nuevas jornadas de huelga para los TCP de Ryanair en este mes de julio. Concretamente, los días 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27 y 28 de julio en los diez aeropuertos españoles en los que opera #Ryanair. #RyanairEnLucha pic.twitter.com/8YBa6LNJDq

— SITCPLA_JD (@sitcpla) July 2, 2022

Lidia Arasanz, the general secretary of USO at Ryanair, in statements to the media, has assured today that the unions have been ‘forced’ to re-call new strike days after the six days of strike that have generated 200 cancellations so far and nearly a thousand delays across the country.

She criticised “the company’s impassivity in not listening to its workers, preferring to leave thousands of passengers on the ground rather than sit down to negotiate an agreement under Spanish law”.

The 12 new strike days will be, like the previous ones, 24 hours long and all Ryanair workers in Spain are called to support them.

“We hope that the next ones are exactly the same as these because the workers have not stopped fighting for their rights and the company must listen to them and sit down at the table to resume the negotiation of the collective agreement” Arasanz continued.

Barbara Otero, in charge of USO at the Santiago de Compostela base, explained to EFE that the unions have spent five months trying to negotiate a collective agreement without success. This includes the rights established by Spanish law, such as in terms of salaries or vacations.

Given the lack of progress, the unions called a strike and the already high minimum services authorized by the Government were not respected by the company, which raised them to 100 per cent.

Otero explained further, Ryanair has made ‘administrative errors’, and some workers have been able to exercise the right to strike. This has occurred despite the fact that the company “has dedicated itself to bringing workers from other national and international bases, to replace those who could not exercise the right to strike”.

“This has already been done in previous strikes for the same reason, we denounced it, and there is a sentence from the National High Court for strike-stripping practices and for violating our rights”, Otero clarified. She pointed out that the unions have urged Yolanda Diaz at the Ministry of Labour to intervene.

“We are not third-class workers and we deserve the same right as any worker in the Spanish State”, added Arasanz.

“USO y Sitcpla exigen al Gobierno y concretamente, a la ministra de Trabajo y Economía Social, Yolanda Díaz,que “no permita que Ryanair vulnere la legislación laboral y derechos constitucionales como el de huelga y actúe contra una empresa que no acata las sentencias judiciales.” https://t.co/qQkEoYkBYL

— SITCPLA_JD (@sitcpla) July 2, 2022

As of 1pm this afternoon, 10 Ryanair flights had been cancelled along with 123 delays, despite having a minimum service of 100 per cent at all 10 bases in Spain. Easyjet has also joined the industrial action, with today being their second day out of nine scheduled days of striking in July.

📌Actualización datos 2 de julio 13:00#HuelgaRyanair: 10 vuelos cancelados y 123 retrasos#HuelgaEasyJet: 5 cancelaciones y 52 retrasos
Pedimos disculpas a los pasajeros afectados. pic.twitter.com/RCeohhZLIy

— Confederación USO (@SindicatoUSO) July 2, 2022

The USO union called action for July 1, 2, 3, 15, 16, 17, 29, 30, and 31 at Easyjet’s bases in the airports of Malaga, El Prat in Barcelona, and Palma de Mallorca. There have been five cancellations and 52 flight delays at these three facilities up until 1pm this Saturday.

Miguel Galan, the general secretary of USO at Easyjet assured that this Saturday’s session “is being supported by the vast majority of cabin crew” at all bases, especially in Malaga, where 50 per cent of the flights have been cancelled, “despite the abusive minimum services applied by Easyjet”.

📢📢📢“#HuelgaRyanair, concentración de trabajadores en El Prat. ¡Apoya nuestra huelga, #RyanairMustChange! Por la aplicación de la legislación laboral española, el Estatuto de los Trabajadores y las mejoras ganadas por #USO y @sitcpla en los tribunales.” https://t.co/rKPnIHZb7G

— SITCPLA_JD (@sitcpla) July 1, 2022

___________________________________________________________

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. Do remember to come back and check The Euro Weekly News website for all your up-to-date local and international news stories and remember, you can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.