Due to the strike of the cabin crew of the Irish low-cost airline Ryanair stationed in Belgium, the flights of 19,000 passengers may be canceled this New Year’s weekend. In total, about 107 flights from Charleroi would be cancelled, although this cannot yet be said with certainty.
LOOK. This is what the conflict at Ryanair is all about and this is what the unions are planning:
A first strike will take place on December 30 and 31 and on January 1, the Flemish trade union center ACV Puls and the French-speaking CNE already announced last week. The next weekend, Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 January, the cabin crew will also be on strike. The unions denounce the attitude of the Irish budget flyer, who they say still refuses to pay the legal minimum wage in Belgium.
During the strike next weekend, not all flights will be canceled, but only those flights departing from Charleroi and operated by cabin crew based in Belgium. It would concern flights to Tenerife, Dublin, Malaga, Lisbon and Marrakech. For the time being, however, it remains to be seen whether all employees are on strike.
Ryanair will contact passengers whose flights have been cancelled, it sounds. The figures for the weekend of 7 and 8 January are not yet known.
Labor contract
“As a result of this strike, 19,000 people are being held hostage,” said Philippe Verdonck, CEO of Charleroi Airport, at ‘La Dernière Heure’.
Negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement for Ryanair’s Belgium-based cabin crew have been in the doldrums for months. There were also strikes during the summer. A month ago, the unions sent an open letter to the federal government to complain that Ryanair “continues to violate the law without anyone doing anything about it”. They then threatened action if there was no change by the end of the year. “Unfortunately, nothing has changed,” says Hans Elsen of ACV Puls. On the contrary, the situation has even worsened.
Read also:
Ryanair strikes during Christmas holidays: Are you entitled to compensation if your flight is cancelled? (+)
Cabin crew Ryanair in Belgium strikes for five days during Christmas holidays: “Majority still receives minimum wage from company that makes billions of profits”
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