Lisbon, Aug. 2, 2024 (Lusa) - The National Union of Civil Aviation Flight Personnel (SNPVAC) said on Friday that easyJet Portugal had cancelled more than half of the flights scheduled for the days of the crew strike, from the 15th to the 17th of this month.
‘Regrettably, and although it's not yet on the crew roster, we can see that as of today, easyJet has cancelled 164 of the 308 flights that were scheduled for 15, 16 and 17 August,’ the union said in a statement to its members, to which Lusa has had access.
The SNPVAC has called a three-day strike by cabin crew at easyJet between 15 and 17 August, following approval at a general meeting, with 99 % of votes in favour, accusing the company of ignoring various attempts to resolve labour issues, including staff shortages and an increase in working hours.
The strike starts at 00:01 on 15 August and ends at 24:00 on 17 August for ‘all flights operated by easyJet, as well as for other services to which cabin crew are assigned’ in Portugal.
In the statement released on Friday, the union stressed that ‘the parties are not tied to a definitive position and may engage in dialogue until the day of the strike’.
‘It can be hard to take the blame yourself, but only assuming external factors as the causes of the problems in the operation cannot be the answer,’ the SNPVAC pointed out, adding that the pilots “are also considering going on strike”.
In the strike notice, the union states that the latest meetings with the company have been ‘innocuous in terms of solutions’ to the problems of a lack of roster stability, discriminatory treatment of pilots in the compensation given for summer disruption, insufficient staffing in all relevant departments, and pressure to work overtime for commercial purposes.
The SNPVAC also denounced the ‘continuous and penalising increase in the number of working hours’, the use of exceptional/emergency instruments to extend working hours, as a rule, to make up for staff shortages and the ‘illegal calculation of Christmas bonuses in intermittent work contracts’.
After urging the union to resume dialogue, the airline expressed disappointment at the cabin crew's ‘unnecessary strike’, promising to do everything to minimise the impact.
‘We are extremely disappointed with this unnecessary strike action, especially at this important time of year, since we have already presented solutions to address all the concerns raised by the union,’ reads an official statement from the airline sent to Lusa.
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