It has been confirmed that pilots from Belgium that work for the Irish airline Ryanair will strike on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 July. The confirmation that strike action will be taken came from Hans Elsen of the Christian trade union ACV Puls. The pilots are unhappy with Ryanair’s decision to repeal a collective labour agreement on working hours and rest periods. The pilots are also demanding the restoration of their salaries to pre-pandemic levels. During the coronavirus crisis they gave up 20% of their salary.
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Belgian Ryanair pilots to strike on 15 and 16 July
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Earlier this week the pilots issued Ryanair with an ultimatum. “We have received insufficient response from management to the questions we posed to enable us to withdraw the strike notice. The Belgian pilots will strike during the weekend of 15 and 16 July”, ACV Puls’ Hans Elsen told VRT News.
Working hours and rest days
The biggest bone of contention for the pilots is a new service roster that Ryanair wishes to introduce.
"Currently pilots work for 5 days and then have 4 rest days. Ryanair wants to unilaterally change this to 6 days work and 3 rest days. This is not legal”, Mr Elsen explained.
Another issue is that the pilots’ salaries have not been increased since the end of the coronavirus crisis.
"In 2020 we agreed to a 20% wage cut to help the company through the coronavirus crisis. However, Ryanair is refusing to restore our salaries to their former levels.”
Impact still unclear
It is still unclear what the impact will be on those planning to travel during the weekend of 15 and 16 July. "For the time being it is difficult to predict which flights will be cancelled and which will not. Not all flights that take off from Charleroi have a Belgian pilot."
Hans Elsen advises passengers to check Charleroi (Brussels South) Airport’s website to see if their flight has been cancelled. The airport will be the first to be informed by Ryanair about any cancellations.