24 June 2022

Some cabin crew at Ryanair went on strike in Belgium, Spain and Portugal on Friday in a dispute over pay and working conditions, the latest in a wave of walkouts staged by workers across different sectors in Europe.

Surging inflation across the continent has led to millions of workers struggling with rising costs of living, prompting trade unions to demand higher wage increases, often backed by strike calls...

Workers at several other airlines, including British Airways, are also planning strikes this summer [BA comments available here].

Ryanair cabin crew unions in Belgium, Spain and Portugal called a three-day strike starting on Friday. Staff in France and Italy were expected to walk out over the weekend. Crews in Spain are set to strike again on June 30 and July 1-2.

Workers say the Irish airline does not respect local labour laws covering issues such as the minimum wage and urge Ryanair's bosses to improve working conditions.

"Conditions are terrible," said Ricardo Penarroias, president of SNPVAC, the union behind Portugal's walkout. "A crew member is not even allowed to take a bottle of water on a flight."

Ryanair told Reuters last week it had negotiated labour agreements covering 90% of its staff across Europe and that it did not expect widespread disruption this summer.

Much of the labour unrest has focused on the transport sector as it deals with a return to travel after pandemic lockdowns.

French unions issued a joint call on Friday for a national railway worker strike on July 6 and a walkout has also crippled Britain's rail network this week.

There are signs of the unrest spreading to other sectors – French trade union CGT is organising a one-day strike on Friday to seek higher wages for oil refinery workers after talks with operator TotalEnergies broke down [TotalEnergies declined to comment].

With inflation running at more than 8% in the euro area, a 40-year-high of 9.1% in Britain, and in double digits across some central and eastern European economies, authorities are worried of a wage-price spiral developing in which higher wage demands add to inflationary pressures...

Pilot and cabin crew unions of Brussels Airlines, the Belgian subsidiary of Lufthansa, also started a strike on Thursday. Over the three days, Brussels Airlines expects to cancel about 60% of its 533 flights [further company comments here].

Ryanair said in a statement fewer than 2% of its 3,000 flights on Friday had so far been affected by the strikes, mainly due to what it described as "minor disruptions" in Belgium.