The unions said they received a proposal on Monday to renegotiate on August 22. “The management wants to lift the negotiations about the holiday. That is a blow to the jaw,” says Paul Buekenhout of the Christian trade union. “There is nothing concrete yet, but we have asked the management to quickly come up with structural solutions. If you get August 22 as the date, then that is much too late. We are asking for solutions for July, August and September.”
“This is yet another maneuver to get through the summer with the heavy work schedules of the aircrew,” says Olivier Van Camp of the socialist union. “This is unacceptable to us. We demand solutions for the summer months.”
For the time being, however, it is still a threat, there are no concrete actions yet. There will be a trade union meeting on Wednesday. There may then be more clarity about new actions. The unions have asked the management of Brussels Airlines to bring the CEO of Lufthansa to Belgium so that “he can look his employees in the eye”.
Brussels Airlines pilots and cabin crew went on strike from Thursday to Saturday last week. A total of 316 flights had to be canceled due to the strike, affecting some 40,000 passengers.