A total of 88 vols au départ et à l’arrivée de l’aéroport de Charleroi (Belgique) sont annulés ce mondi et mardi en raison d’une grève des pilotes de Ryanair pour leurs conditions de travail, la troisième en l’espace d ‘one month. Some 15,000 passengers who were going to take off from Charleroi or land there are affected by the social movement, the airport management told AFP.
Belgium-based Ryanair pilots had already gone on strike on the weekend of July 15-16 (120 flights cancelled) and then on the weekend of July 29-30 (96 flights cancelled). They criticize the Irish company for not wanting to respect a collective agreement that provided for a certain number of days off in exchange for the salary cuts granted in 2020 at the time of the Covid-19 crisis.
“There is an exasperation of the staff”
In addition, contrary to its commitments, “the company has not wanted to restore the full salary and considers that the indexations that have occurred”, in accordance with Belgian law, “are valid for reimbursement”, says Kevin Cam, a Ryanair pilot. interviewed by AFP. The pilot unions accuse the company of not respecting Belgian law and of prospering thanks to “social dumping” which creates unfair competition with other companies.
“There is an exasperation of the squad. We are faced with an employer who openly says that he will not respect the legislation (…) who tells us + withdraws all complaints, but rather increases the working day and does not index his salary +”, says Didier Lebbe, representative of the Employees Union. For its part, the company claims that more than half of Ryanair’s traffic in Charleroi is carried out by planes operated by non-Belgian personnel.
“Belgian pilot unions should negotiate instead of going on strike,” Ryanair reacted in July, hailing agreements already concluded with their Italian, Spanish and French counterparts on working conditions.
Source: BFM TV
