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Eight out of 10 workers at Ryanair are on strike at Brussels Airport on Wednesday, said Hans Elsen, secretary of the Christian union LBC-NVK (CNE). "The mobilization is strong, 80% of workers are on strike today and will be tomorrow," says Elsen. Four employees wanted to work on Wednesday morning and left for a flight to Lisbon.
"A flight to and from Berlin was arranged with a German crew because there is no strike in Germany. Palma, we must see if there will be enough Belgian staff, "says the trade unionist.
The LBC also learned that 25 Polish workers had been sent to Brussels to fill staff shortages. "We do not agree with this way of proceeding, it is a 19th century practice, at that time British dockers were recruited during a strike in the port of Antwerp," says Elsen . "This is not in accordance with Belgian and international agreements and we have lodged a complaint with the social inspectorate."
According to Mr. Elsen, Polish workers work for a Ryanair subcontractor. Legally, they do not work for the same company.
"We see that without active union work, collective and social protection disappears almost immediately, which shows that trade unions are still as important as in the nineteenth century", adds still the union leader.
Ryanair staff in Belgium, Spain, Portugal and Italy are on strike on Wednesday. It calls for better working conditions and compliance with national labor laws.
Ryanair strike hits 23,500 pbadengers on Wednesday and Thursday in Belgium
The strike planned for Wednesday and Thursday at Ryanair is expected to affect 23,500 pbadengers and to Belgium: 16,500 in Charleroi and more than 7,000 in Brussels Airport, we learned from airports. In Charleroi, 48 flights (return) will be removed this Wednesday and the same number tomorrow / Thursday. At Brussels Airport, 22 flights will be canceled Wednesday and 18 Thursday. In addition, other flights may be canceled during strikes if the number of volunteer workers is insufficient. Unions in four European countries, including Belgium, announced a coordinated strike two weeks ago for cabin crew. On Wednesday and Thursday, the workers will cross their arms in Belgium, Portugal and Spain. The Italians will stop working on July 25th only. Staff calls for better working conditions and union recognition
This is a first for the low-cost airline, sparing comments. Ryanair had to offer an alternative to blocked pbadengers or the reimbursement of their ticket. "Our 50,000 customers in Spain, Portugal and Belgium, whose flights on Wednesday and Thursday were canceled, were offered another flight or asked for a full refund over the last weekend." We do not wait new cancellations tomorrow (Wednesday, July 25), "says Ryanair on his Twitter account.
As the cancellation was announced less than two weeks before departure, pbadengers are also entitled to additional compensation of 250 to 600 euros depending on the distance. But Ryanair is not talkative about possible compensation. According to the consumer protection organization Test-Achats, the company mentions the "force majeure" in its communication to pbadengers while a judgment of the European Court of Justice indicates that it can not be invoked in case of strike within the company.
The Minister of the Economy, Kris Peeters, has already asked the Economic Inspection to follow the case.
According to the CNE, which launched the call to strike with other unions, the mobilization of staff is important. "The staff is more than tired of the difficult working conditions, which are deteriorating and this, after several attempts of conciliation with the direction", explained the Christian union in a communiqué.
The socialist trade union of the employees, the SETCa, estimates that it is urgent that a trade union representation, in which all the Belgian trade unions are represented, be recognized within the airline. The strike on Wednesday and Thursday could have been avoided, according to the union, "if management had reacted to the many calls from workers."
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