A cabin crew strike, from budget airlines Ryanair and Vueling, will take place across Italy on 1st October. The action is in protest against recent redundancies of Vueling cabin crew.
The Italian Filt Cgil and Uiltrasporti unions are organising the industrial action in protest against recent redundancies of 17 Vueling crew based in Rome. The strikers are also demanding higher pay and better working conditions.
Cancellations and disruptions are possible as pilots and flight attendants walk off the job to demand higher pay and better working co. However, Ryanair claim they expect “zero impact on their schedule”. A spokesperson for Ryanair said:
“Ryanair expects zero impact to our 3,000 daily flights as a result of planned strike action on Sat, 1st Oct by three tiny and irrelevant unions who don’t represent Ryanair staff, are not recognised by Ryanair and have previously held unsupported strikes that have had zero impact on Ryanair’s operations”.
Why are Italian crew striking?
Ryanair staff will hold a 24-hour walkout, while Vueling staff will strike for a total of four hours, from 1pm to 5pm.
Both sets of staff are striking to demand better working conditions. The action follows similar walkouts in June and July this year. The unions condemned Vueling for firing 17 “committed and professional” flight attendants at Rome’s Fiumicino airport. Union representatives also demanded better working conditions for parents, such as exempting “mothers with small children” from night shift work.
“Italian workers (deserve) contracts that guarantee decent working conditions and salaries at least in line with the minimum wages provided for in the national air transport contract of our country “, a union statement reads. This is likely a response to the rising inflation which is affecting wages across Europe.
Ryanair claimed the unions taking action are “irrelevant”, saying there would be no impact on flights.
“Ryanair has already reached Collective Labour Agreements with 3 major, representative unions in Italy (FIT CISL, ANPAC and ANPAV), which cover all of our Italian crew and deliver accelerated pay restoration, future pay increases, and other benefit improvements for our people.”
