Due to miserable working and pay conditions, numerous Ryanair pilots decided to hold a walkout once again to protest. Thus, they took to the streets on the 14th and 15th of August.
In the previous month, the employees had gotten together at the Brussels South Charleroi Airport and participated in a walkout that lasted for two days.
On account of the pilots’ protest in July, specifically on the 15th and 16th, more than 100 flights had been canceled, with passengers being stranded in different parts of the world.
Ryanair suffers losses
The industrial action started out in the previous month, when ACV Puls and CNE, two well-known and large trade unions, came together and joined hands with Beca, the pilots’ union.
Together, all three groups walked out to protest the unfair working conditions and pay, accusing the airline of not paying any heed to the needs of its employees.
The airport, which was the center of the walkout, is located at a distance of 45 minutes, in the Southern direction of the Belgian capital.
Up until now, Ryanair has had to cancel more than 40 out of 170 scheduled flights on every day of August that the strike has taken place.
In the two days that the walkout ensued, the airline recorded almost 90 cancelations, spread out over the two days.
The reason behind the walkout
The pilots’ union, as well as the two other trade unions, have come together and taken to the streets to protest the poor working and pay conditions of the airline in Belgium.
Beca went on to cite unacceptable practices of the HR management, which is the primary reason why it decided to hold the walkouts.
The union went on to claim that the airline was forcing pilots to simply accept the reduction in basic pay, by threatening to increase redundancies.
According to Beca, this gross misconduct took place amid the coronavirus, when workers were struggling financially and otherwise.
Moreover, it accused Ryanair of implementing unfair practices and coming up with a system to help it circumvent the automatic pay indexation.
Ryanair releases a statement
Soon after the walkout for this month was staged, Ryanair took to denying that it was using any unfair practices or offering poor working conditions.
It went on to add that the company is fully compliant with the laws of the country, especially the indexation system devised during the coronavirus pandemic.
It also revealed that the pay cuts that had been previously agreed to by the employees amid the coronavirus pandemic were revoked in the month of April of this year.
The budget airline further stated that it has offered a deal to the Belgian pilots, which is the same as that agreed to by the pilots’ union across the various countries of the EU.
According to Ryanair, it sent out the proposal on the 25th of July, but has not yet heard back from the union. Thus, it expressed unhappiness at the staging of another walkout, which caused inconvenience to the passengers.
