Fifteen flights were canceled this Saturday and 175 suffered delays this Saturday at the Madrid airport for a Ryanair and EasyJet crew strike, and dozens were canceled at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris due to a strike by firefighters.
The mobilization of Ryanair and EasyJet in Madrid, two low-cost airlinesto claim better wages and working conditions It coincided with the end of the school year in Europe and the summer vacation season.
At 1:00 p.m. (11:00 GMT) this Saturday, ten Ryanair and five EasyJet flights had been canceled and 175 were delayed (123 from Ryanair and 52 from EasyJet), the unions reported in a statement.
The stoppages of the Ryanair crew members in Spain – where the company has some 1,900 employees – began on June 24 and those of EasyJet, last Friday.
The USO union further stated that Ryanair staff have planned stoppages in three periods of four days: from July 12 to 15, from July 18 to 21 and from July 25 to 28 in the ten Spanish airports in which the Irish company operates.
"After these 6 days of strike and seeing the impassiveness of the company in not listening to its workers and preferring to leave thousands of passengers on the ground rather than sit down to negotiate an agreement under Spanish law, we have been forced to call new days of strike"stated Lidia Arasanz, a USO representative.
According to her, in the previous six days of strike, "more than 200 flights and almost 1,000" they suffered delays throughout the country. "We hope that the next ones will be exactly the same"he pointed.
EasyJet workers announced strikes during the first three weekends of July to demand improvements in their working conditions and that these be in line with those of other European companies.
Y in France, dozens of flights were canceled at the Parisian airport of Charles de Gaulle, where firefighters have been on strike since Thursday, forcing the authorities to reduce the number of tracks for prevention.
Between 07:00 and 14:00 (05:00 – 12:00 GMT), one in five flights to or from Paris was cancelled, reported the airport operator ADP.