Black Wednesday for those traveling by plane. There is also the “lack of water and meals for the crew” among the claims that have prompted Ryanair pilots and flight attendants to cross their arms and kick off the “hot” summer of low cost airlines. Today, Wednesday 8 June, the strike of the Irish giant of low cost flights goes off together with Malta Air, and the company CrewLink that always gravitate in the orbit of Ryanair. But EasyJet and Volotea also stop at the same time. A 4-hour national strike was called for all companies, from 10 to 14.
I nodi di Ryanair
A stop that reopens the season of union demands and heralds an entire summer at risk of flights, just as the sector is preparing to restart after the forced blockade suffered during the years of the pandemic. The protest of “Wednesday 8 will be only the first strike action of a series that will affect the whole summer period”, warn Filt CGIL and Uiltrasporti in proclaiming the stop of Ryanair crews. A decision, that of crossing the arms, taken after having found «the impossibility of opening a discussion dedicated to the problems that have afflicted the crew for months. Among the open issues – explain the trade unions – the failure to comply with the minimum wages provided for by the national contract, the persistence of an agreement on the cut of wages (contingency agreement) that is no longer current, the arbitrary reductions of the paycheck, the non-payment of the days illness, the company’s refusal to grant days of compulsory leave during the summer season and the lack of water and meals for the crew ».
The situation in EasyJet
EasyJet’s flight crew will protest «against the compression of rights which culminated in unjustified dismissals, – explains Uiltrasporti – against the lack of operational solidity, to the detriment of passengers and crews and against the total deterioration of industrial relations. As regards Volotea, the union speaks instead of “a continuous anti-union conduct carried out by the company: unacceptable requests for salary reductions, promotions and economic upgrades at the sole discretion of the company in order to exercise real control over its employees, to which there are also disciplinary disputes in contrast with the Italian legislation “. The days of protest will be coordinated with the interested European trade unions for a shared and concentrated action at transnational level. And if the “legitimate requests” are not accepted by the two companies, Uiltrasporti warns, “this will be only the first of a series of protest actions that will make the summer” hot “.
The ground workers of Alitalia-Sai are in agitation
Also for Wednesday, meanwhile, other inconveniences are expected due to the strike called by Cub Trasporti: the ground workers of Alitalia-Sai, which is in receivership, and of Ita Airways will stop for four hours, from 13 to 17. The protest is due to the opposition to the «Alitalia stew which – according to what has been stated – is causing significant reductions in personnel in handling in Rome and Milan and in maintenance employees in the capital. We are against the dismemberment of Alitalia and the privatization of Ita which is the tombstone on the project to relaunch a flag company “, says Antonio Amoroso, national secretary of Cub-Trasporti, adding:” In Fiumicino, in particular, Swissport, the company which won the tender called by Alitalia for the sale of ground services, says it wants to hire only 1,451 people, or a thousand fewer than the current workers ”. And precisely in Fiumicino, an assembly is held at Terminal T1 to decide how to “counteract employment cuts and regulatory worsening”.
High speed restored
Meanwhile, the Rome-Naples high-speed line has been reactivated, with the circulation of high-speed trains gradually resuming as early as the afternoon of Tuesday 7 June. This also allows for the improvement of the movement of commuter trains on conventional lines. On the morning of Wednesday 8 June, the normal scheduling of trains both between Rome and Naples and in the railway junctions of the two cities resumes. The line was interrupted on the afternoon of Friday 3 June following the diversion of the tail locomotive of a High Speed train near Rome Prenestina.