Europe is seeing a great deal of industrial action. While strikes in the aviation industry are most common at the height of the European summer, there has been a proliferation of discontent among aviation staff since the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, post-pandemic, many European transport and aviation employees, plus public-sector workers are staging frequent protests about a mismatch between their salary packages and galloping inflation.
The official retirement age being increased from 62 to 64 in France has led to a great deal of worker protest there, and sometimes, strikes.
It's always worthwhile checking whether or not threatened strikes and industrial action are actually taking place – they are often a negotiating tool, and are often called off at the last minute as parties find agreement during a hasty last-minute negotiation.
Italy
Strikes by members of several Italian unions are scheduled for June 4, but some unions have cancelled strike action in the flood-hit Emilia Romagna region. It is unclear which unions still plan to walk out. A day of action has already taken place, on May 19.
The action is said to be over employment contracts for handling staff at Italian airports – unions say the workers’ pay and conditions have not been improved in six years.
ITA, the Italian flag carrier, cancelled 113 domestic flights on May 19. Under Italian law, flights scheduled to leave at 07h00-10h00 and 18h00-21h00 are protected from strike action.
A major, 24-hour general strike on May 26 will affect bus and tram services as well as metro lines, and possibly local and inter-regional train services too.
France
Trade unions have announced a new nationwide day of protests on June 6, ahead of the French parliament's National Assembly on June 8.
There has already been a lot of industrial action and protest over the French government raising the pension age from 62 to 64. These actions have in the past resulted in flight and train cancellations and the closure of tourist attractions.
Air traffic controllers in France have been on strike for some time, affecting flights across Europe. Ryanair claims that in the first four months of 2023, there were more than 50 days of ATC strikes leading to more than 3 700 cancelled flights affecting more than 666 000 passengers.
UK
Security staff at Heathrow are on strike from May 25-26, in industrial action over pay.
This industrial action is expected to affect BA’s Terminal 5. It’s still unknown how much disruption this will cause. Unite, the union involved, says it will cause "mayhem", but Heathrow says it expects to keep things running smoothly as it claims it did during the previous industrial action, involving around 1 400 security staff.
A statement on Heathrow’s website says: "We anticipate that the airport will be busy during this period, and additional ‘Here to Help’ teams are available to assist passengers.”
Spain
The Spanish Airline Pilots Union (SEPLA) is calling for a fresh wave of strike days at Spanish carrier, Air Europa. The pilots across Spain will walk out from May 22-26 and May 29-30 and again from June 1-2.
The union has warned that strikes will continue into the coming months “if the company refuses to negotiate a fair agreement”.
Pilots represented by SEPLA at Ryanair and Easyjet are also considering strike action in Spain this summer.
The SEPLA strike is protesting Spain’s application of the ‘minimum services law’, which requires that, during industrial action over pay, at least 90% of flights must go ahead. The union argues that the way this law has been applied impedes on the pilots' constitutional rights to a full strike.
Portugal
A recent strike by border security officials (SEF) in Portugal (Lisbon, Porto, Madeira and Faro airports) achieved support of close to 100% of the workers.
The union has new strikes scheduled for Lisbon airport on May 27-29, June 3-5, June 10-12, June 17-19 and June 24-26, between 05h00 and 10h00.
At the remaining airports, the strikes will take place on May 29 and June 5, 12, 19 and 26.
The issue is the uncertainty of the future of SEF inspectors after the Government approved a restructuring process.
