Ryanair workers have kicked off a five-month strike beginning this month, but the budget airline has assured passengers there will be no impact. The first weekly strike began yesterday (August 10) when cabin crew walked out over the bitter dispute.
The strike action will take place weekly from Monday to Thursday until early January 2023. The affected airports are Alicante, Barcelona, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, Madrid, Ibiza, Murcia, Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote.
Staffers are calling on the company to align their contracts to Spanish law, which would mean 30 days annual leave, 14 bank holidays, and two payments most workers in Spain receive every year.
Ryanair claimed just "a handful" of its Spanish cabin crew are members of the unions involved and said the walkouts will cause "zero disruption" in August and September.
The strike involves members of the SITCPLA and USO unions. The majority of Ryanair's Spanish cabin crew are represented by the CCOO union, which has already agreed a deal with the airline, Wales Online reported.
A spokesperson for the carrier said: "A tiny number of Ryanair flights in Spain were cancelled or delayed in July, but this was mostly due to air traffic control strikes and flight delays. Ryanair expects that these latest threatened strikes will have zero impact on our Spanish flights or schedules in August or September."
Unions are demanding the restoration of pre-pandemic wage levels, an agreement on annual leave, and "immediate reinstatement” of 11 workers sacked following the strikes in June and July. They also want the suspension of disciplinary proceedings against another 100 workers involved in previous stoppages.
Ryanair has reached an agreement with Spanish and French pilots until 2027 over post-pandemic pay and conditions. Darrell Hughes, Ryanair people director, said: "We welcome these long-term agreements which run until 2027 and will deliver numerous improvements for our Pilots based in Spain and France.
"While the recovery from the impact of the pandemic is still ongoing and our industry faces significant challenges, this long-term agreement delivers stability, accelerated pay restoration, future pay increases and other benefit improvements for pilots. We have now successfully re-negotiated accelerated pay restoration and improved long-term agreements with over 85 percent of our pilots."
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