The easyJet cabin crew strike canceled 220 flights between Saturday and Monday, an official source from the National Union of Civil Aviation Flight Staff (SNPVAC) said.
According to the source, the airline had scheduled 276 flights, with 52 flights scheduled as minimum services.
“Thus, in these three days 220 flights were canceled and only four flights were made. These four flights were flown by easyJet managers who are licensed to fly,” he highlighted.
According to the SNPVAC, “excluding these four flights, where the aircraft crew is made up of easyJet managers with a license to fly, the strike had 100% support.”
easyJet’s cabin crew in Portugal announced a strike on March 17 for April 1, 2 and 3, following a deadlock in negotiations with the company, according to a SNPVAC statement.
In its justification for going ahead with the initiative, the union recalled the recovery of the sector in recent years, after the pandemic, and recalled that in Portugal, the easyJet crew “always had a serious attitude of understanding of the operational needs of the company over the years”, having voted “unanimously when the company asked for aid, agreeing to freeze their working conditions for three years”.
However, the SNPVAC indicated, “during the pandemic, easyJet decided to support refills well above those of Portugal and some countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom [Reino Unido]which in turn already had much greater support from the State”.
The union has also pointed out that, “when the operation resumed, easyJet decided to help” the “Spanish colleagues with a minimum guarantee, when the crew in Portugal was experiencing financial difficulties” and that “the Portuguese bases and routes are among the most profitable”. In the net”.
“Due to the economic climate, easyJet workers have lost purchasing power in the last three years,” they stressed, noting that “the rising cost of living suffocates workers and endangers the well-being and comfort of their families.” .
“In the last two years, the cabin crew had to deal with experiences that no one had foreseen, finding themselves on the front line even in critical periods,” said the SNPVAC, guaranteeing that “in other countries and bases where the company does not present the same level of profitability presented in Portugal, the colleagues obtained significant increases” and that “in these countries agreements were negotiated during the summer, in order to protect the stability of the workers’ working hours”.
In the statement, the SNPVAC defended that easyJet’s cabin crew “cannot continue to allow the company to adopt a position of indifference, in the face of the problems of the class identified for a long time”, guaranteeing that “a climate of tension and discontent over the long stalemate in resolving various labor disputes”.
For the union, “the stalemate reached in the ongoing AE/CLA negotiations, which could last indefinitely over time, is not tolerable”, assuring that professionals in Portugal “want to see their loyalty and productivity demonstrated towards a recognized company”.
Source: TSF
