There is a very good chance that there will be a three-day strike at Brussels Airlines next week, on 23, 24 and 25 June. After pilots filed a strike notice earlier, cabin crews followed suit today, the unions announced. Those strikes would then come on top of the national day of action of June 20.
The unions had postponed a decision on a strike notice by the cabin crew – the flight attendants – by 24 hours on Wednesday, after the management put a new proposal on the table.
But that proposal, which according to the unions involved a premium, failed to convince them. “The flight crew has never asked for money to solve their problems, but has requested structural interventions that ensure the future of the company and its employees,” it sounds.
ALSO READ. Exciting days are dawning due to a strike for those who are going on a trip: can you change your ticket just like that? Do you have to pay extra? †
Both the pilots and the cabin crew of the airline are dissatisfied with the workload. The increased demand for air travel is putting pressure on work organisation, it said. The pilots are also dissatisfied that the management does not want to index their cafeteria plan, a budget for fringe benefits.
The demand for structural interventions to reduce the workload has been heard for some time. Last summer there were already a series of rather symbolic actions and in December there was a strike for a day. “These are still the same problems as last summer,” the unions said. “The board has been given a year to address the problems, but hardly anything has happened.”
In addition, “the wages of the aircrew were not paid correctly and that the work schedule was published too late again,” say the Christian, socialist and liberal unions. “We have serious questions about the functioning of management.”
The pilots had filed a strike notice last Friday. Another reconciliation meeting was scheduled for tomorrow/Friday, but the unions don’t seem to have any plans to participate.
The management of Brussels Airlines said earlier that it recognizes the high workload and that it is prepared to look for solutions to alleviate it. For example, she decided to cancel 148 flights during the summer, but the unions found that insufficient. In an internal letter in response to the pilots’ strike notice, management warned that their demands could stifle the company’s future growth.