Pilots that work for the Irish airline Ryanair and are based at Charleroi airport (Hainaut) are to take strike action for the third time in a month next week. The pilots will strike on Monday 14 and Tuesday 15 August.
Home News
Belgian Ryanair pilots to strike on 14 and 15 August
Published:
The strike follows two previous two-day strikes on 15 and 16 July and 29 and 30 July. The Irish budget airline’s Belgian pilots hope that by striking for the third time in a month they will be successful in bringing their message home to Ryanair’s management. The two previous strikes resulted in the cancellation of around 220 flights. Despite this Ryanair’s management has still not made any proposals that might go some way to meeting the pilots’ demands.
A major bone of contention for the pilots is a new rostering system that Ryanair wishes to introduce. Under the system pilots will have fewer rest periods between shifts.
Veerle Verleyen of the Christian trade union ACV told VRT News that "Ryanair must respect Belgian labour laws, they can’t unilaterally make changes to a collective labour agreement. These are illegal practices”.
The pilots also hope to get their salaries returned to pre-pandemic levels. In 2020 Ryanair pilots took a 20% pay cut to help the company through the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. However, although Ryanair is now making a profit again, the airline is refusing to restore salaries to where they were prior to COVID-19.
Disruption?
Coming as it does at the end of what for many people is a long weekend, the strike will no doubt inconvenience many. However, the pilots say that they need to make a stand. “The pilots want to fly, but they also want to be treated with respect. Our customers will enjoy flying with us all the more if the people that work here are happy”, Ms Verleyen told VRT News.
"This is the only way we can force them to the negotiating table and show them how urgent this is”.
It not yet clear what the impact of the strike will be. Prior to previous strikes Ryanair provided a list of cancellations 48 hours before the strike was due to get under way.