Ryanair ground staff extend Spain-wide strike throughout August
The industrial action will impact flights to and from every airport in Spain
Ryanair passengers flying in and out of Spain are facing widespread disruption this month as ground handling staff have announced plans to extend their strike action across all of the airline’s Spanish bases.
Starting on August 15, the UGT union will carry out strikes at Azul Handling, Ryanair’s handling subsidiary, in protest over what it describes as ongoing worker sanctions and abuse of overtime practices.
The strike will initially take place on August 15, 16 and 17. After that, it will continue every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday until the end of the year, with stoppages scheduled from 5am to 9am 12pm to 3pm and 9pm to 11:59pm.
The industrial action will affect all of Ryanair’s Spanish bases and work centres. These include the Region of Murcia, Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Sevilla, Málaga, Alicante, Ibiza, Palma de Mallorca, Girona, Tenerife South, Lanzarote and Santiago.
As a formal step before launching the national strike, UGT’s airline division has requested mediation through the Interconfederal Mediation and Arbitration Service. The move builds on a previous call for 22 days of strikes at Madrid’s Barajas Airport, which has now been widened to include every Ryanair hub in the country.
The union claims that workers are being punished for refusing to work outside of their contracted hours. Penalties for this can include up to 36 days without pay or employment.
According to the union, this behaviour is the direct cause of the work stoppages.
"The company and its reckless conduct toward the workforce are directly responsible for this strike," a spokesperson said this week.
José Manuel Pérez Grande, federal secretary of the FeSMC-UGT air workers' union, said Azul Handling is following a "strategy of precariousness and pressure on its workforce that violates basic labour rights and systematically ignores union demands."
The union has also accused the company of failing to consolidate working hours for part-time employees, not creating stable job contracts and imposing or coercing employees into working overtime.
"In some cases, disproportionate sanctions" have been applied, UGT said.
Further criticisms include claims that Azul Handling is ignoring rulings from the Joint Commission of the Sectoral Agreement regarding bonuses and worker guarantees. The union also says the company has imposed illegal restrictions on employees returning to work after medical leave and is making it difficult for staff to adjust their hours to meet family responsibilities.
UGT is calling for all sanctions to be lifted, full compliance with Joint Commission rulings and the immediate start of meaningful negotiations to improve working conditions for more than 3,000 affected workers across Spain.
What rights do passengers have?
Consumer group Facua-Consumers in Action has reminded travellers that if their flight is cancelled because of the strike, they may be entitled to financial compensation of up to €600, along with a full refund of the ticket price and any additional expenses.
Under Article 7 of the European Regulation 261/2004, "passengers will receive compensation of €250 for flights of up to 1,500 kilometres, €400 for intra-Community flights of more than 1,500 kilometres and for all other flights between 1,500 and 3,500 kilometres, and €600 for all other flights."
The association also stressed that, according to a 2018 ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union, a strike by airline workers does not qualify as an "extraordinary circumstance."
As such, Ryanair cannot use the strike as a reason to avoid paying compensation.
However, there are exceptions. Facua says airlines are not required to pay compensation if passengers are informed of the cancellation at least two weeks before departure.
If passengers are notified between two weeks and seven days in advance and offered alternative transport that departs no more than two hours before the scheduled time and arrives less than four hours late, the airline is also exempt.
Travellers are advised to check their rights carefully and keep documentation of all communications and expenses related to their flight.
Image: Archive
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