easyJet strikes in Portugal beginning this week are set to impact around 500 flights departing from and arriving to Portugal’s major airports. easyJet cabin crew employees will be striking over the airline’s working conditions from Oct. 2 to Oct. 6. Airports in Lisbon, Porto, and Faro are all likely to be severely disrupted by this industrial action.
easyJet Employees to Take Industrial Action Over Working Conditions
Industrial action will be occurring across airports in Portugal over this coming week as easyJet cabin crew officially go on strike over working conditions. The strikes will run from Oct. 2 to Oct. 6 and has been called by the National Union of Civil Aviation Flight Personnel (SNPVAC), according to reports from The Portugal News.
The issue in this dispute between easyJet and its employees primarily concerns pay, rostering and working conditions for cabin crew. The union has made several claims about easyJet’s treatment of its cabin crew that has contributed to the decision to take industrial action against the airline, including:
- General worsening of working conditions
- Frequent changes made to the duty rosters
- Pressure on employees to work overtime due to staff shortages
- Unequal treatment of cabin crew and pilots
SNPVAC has also claimed easyJet has failed to comply with the collective bargaining agreement as well as highlighting the wage differences between easyJet employees and other airlines in the country.
In response, easyJet has expressed its disappointment over the union’s decision to strike and apologised to travellers that would inevitably be affected by the disruption. A spokesperson for the airline made the following statement:
“We are extremely disappointed that the union representing our Portugal-based cabin crew has announced an industrial action from 2 to 6 October, despite our willingness to continue a constructive dialogue and reach an agreement to meet our employees’ requests and protect the sustainability of easyJet business in Portugal.”
Both easyJet and SNPVAC are taking part in a conciliatory process being mediated by the Directorate-General for Employment and Labour Relations (DGERT).
Major Disruption Set to Take Place as Portuguese Strikes Go Ahead
As the strikes are set to occur in all three of Portugal’s major airports (Lisbon, Porto, and Faro), both easyJet and SNPVAC have predicted there will be significant disruption to flights departing from or arriving to Portugal over the strike period.
The union has estimated that there will be around 500 flights significantly impacted during the strike period. Notably, these strike dates also include Portugal Republic Day Weekend (Oct. 5) when travel there is typically a much higher degree of domestic travel.
In an attempt to minimise disruption for travellers, the Portuguese government has decreed that legally-mandated minimum services must be maintained. They have also announced there will be a minimum of one Lisbon to London flight and one London to Lisbon flight per day during the strike. Flights from or to Porto and Faro have not been granted the same protection.
SNPVAC union has confirmed the dates of later planned walkouts, set to occur between Dec. 19 to Dec. 23, immediately before the festive period.
The easyJet spokesperson confirmed that some flights had been cancelled pre-emptively to account for the disruption to easyJet’s operations, and that customers had been informed directly and offered options if this was the case.
AirHelp, a flight compensation and passenger rights organisation, has reminded passengers to know their rights in regard to compensation when a strike like this occurs. As the industrial action concerns airline staff, it is considered easyJet’s responsibility to manage. This means passengers could be owed up to £350 if a flight is cancelled due to the strikes or if passengers face more than three hours delay.
easyJet has advised customers expecting to travel to or from Portugal over the coming days to regularly check their flight status via the easyJet flight tracker, and to monitor the latest updates of potential resolutions to the dispute.
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