Unions extend and intensify Ryanair strike five months from August 8
Another five more months of strike at Ryanair in Spain and more intense. After strikes in the months of June and July, the labor dispute with the USO and Sitcpla cabin crew unions and the Irish low-cost airline is intensifying. Both unions have called a five-month strike from August 8 to January 7, 2023. The strikes will last 24 hours and will last from Monday to Thursday each week, El País has advanced and they confirm in the workers' organizations to elDiario.es.
The USO and Sitcpla unions call for a six-day strike at Ryanair between June and July in Spain
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The two unions thus increase the pressure against the Irish multinational in the face of Ryanair's refusal to resume talks with both unions on a collective agreement for cabin crew in Spain.
“Given that Ryanair has not shown the slightest attempt to approach the unions but, on the contrary, has publicly stated its refusal to enter into any dialogue with the representatives chosen by its crew members, USO and SITCPLA have been forced to continue with the strike. and convene new conferences, listening to the workers”, point out both organizations.
There are already eleven workers fired
The unions have also explained that they are intensifying the strikes due to Ryanair's repressive response to the mobilizations of the workforce, in which the dismissal of eleven cabin crew in the framework of the strikes in June and July stands out "for supporting the constitutional right to strike”, they insist.
USO and Sitcpla demand the "immediate reinstatement" of the eleven workers and also "the suspension and filing of all sanctioning files open to approximately 100 workers due to the previous strikes."
Ryanair has justified the dismissals for non-compliance with minimum services, something that the workers and unions deny. This same maneuver has occurred in previous strikes, with several convictions to Ryanair for null dismissals and violation of the right to strike.
The battle for the collective agreement
USO and Sitcpla demand "the application of the statutory minimums of Spanish legislation on labor and trade union matters to all cabin crew who provide their services on Ryanair aircraft and at the ten Spanish bases."
The unions summarize that this translates into measures of "application of basic labor rights, which cannot be subject to negotiation", such as "22 working days of annual vacation, 14 legally established holidays, compliance with the risk prevention law labor", "the payment of salary levels prior to the pandemic", respect for the right to strike and "the end of the hiring of workers through illegal transfer of workers", condemned by the National High Courtamong other.
The fight for the collective agreement comes from afar. After many months of mobilizations, the USO and Sitcpla unions were endorsed by the workforce in 2019 to negotiate this framework of working conditions with the Irish multinational. The negotiation lasted for months and months, marked by little progress and conflicts in the courts, overwhelmingly won by unions.
Last May, Ryanair announced a bilateral agreement with CCOO, with job improvements only for union members, and refused to continue negotiating with USO and Sitpla. This movement, which caught the other two workers' organizations by surprise, has unleashed the protests.
Both union organizations responded to Ryanair's maneuver with the first days of strikes in the first two months of the summer, which now extend to the favorite month for summer vacations: August. Also to the following four, until January 7.
So far, the June and July strikes have resulted in some flight cancellations and delays that the unions have reported in each call and that Ryanair has not specified to the media. The airline has chosen to limit the impact of the mobilizations, as something very marginal.
