Friday 24 June 2022 12:06 PM Spain crushes Ryanair strike by making it ILLEGAL for most staff to walkout ... trends now

Spain has cracked down on a Ryanair cabin crew strike by making it illegal for most staff to walk out amid transport chaos across the continent.

The first of six days of strikes by the budget airline is going largely unnoticed today, as travellers around Europe face hours-long delays due to staff shortages.

The airline enraged unions but kept customers happy by announcing it was intending to maintain all its normal flights from Spain despite the industrial action.

Syndicated Workers Union (USO) spokeswoman Ester Peyro admitted this morning the strike was having little impact as she accused Ryanair of acting illegally by running its scheduled service.

Measures put in place by the Spanish government before the first strike day meant that between 36 and 82 per cent of flights were protected as stipulated 'minimum services' depending on the destination.

Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson predicted yesterday there would be no flight cancellations, saying: 'We believe stoppages are not going to have a great follow-up and that the impact will be minimal.'

Referring to the protected flights he added: 'Even if cabin crew are going to go on strike, they have to operate those flights by law.

'If you are a striker and you put on a protected flight you have to operate that flight. There is also a large number of our people who want to work as normal.'

Mrs Peyro, admitting this morning/yesterday morning (FRI) cabin crew were turning up to work to 'avoid being sacked' said: 'Ryanair has decided that all the flights it was going to operate today from any of its bases in Spain were minimum services.

'It hasn't respected the percentages of flights that didn't have to be minimum services.

'It has summoned all its workforce in Spain as minimum services and they have to respect that order because if not they'll be fired the following day.

'Basically all Ryanair has done is breach the right of workers to strike, workers that after five years of protests and negotiations and industrial action still endure working conditions that do not respect Spanish legislation.'

The USO and Sitcpla unions said late yesterday/on Thursday they had informed Ryanair in writing they were breaching the Spanish Ministry of Transport 'minimum services' decree for the three-day strike which began at midnight after being sent a list of the flights the low-cost airline intended operating.

USO said in a statement: 'Ryanair is sending us an illegal order, which clearly contravenes the Ministry of Transport decree, which was already an abusive decree itself.'

Sitcpla spokesman Manuel Lodeiro added: 'As workers we feel completely betrayed by the state of law in which we supposedly live in.

'No state body protects our fundamental rights.'

Ryanair, which has been contacted for comment about the union allegations, is expected to summon all cabin crew and seek to operate all its flights for the other Spanish strike days on June 30 and July 1 and 2.

The strikes were called to try to pressure the company into negotiating a collective agreement over working conditions.

EasyJet workers are planning to walk out on July 1-3, 15-17 and 29-31 at the airports the airline uses as bases in Spain, which include Malaga and Palma.

The USO union, of which 80 per cent of these employees are members, say flight attendants in Spain are demanding a 40 per cent increase in their basic salaries.

Hauliers in Spain are also threatening strike action, raising the prospect of shortages in hotels during the peak summer season.

Hotel bosses admitted stocks were running low in March during a previous lorry drivers' strike in March and supermarkets were left without several products including meat and fish towards the end of the three-week industrial action over high fuel prices and poor working conditions.

The Platform for the Defence of Freight Transport, which is not affiliated to any of the main transport unions but caused major problems before the strike was called off on April 2, is planning to ballot members about a new walkout this Sunday (June 26).

And on July 4 cleaners in the Balearic Islands, which include Majorca, Ibiza and Minorca, are planning to start an indefinite walkout.

It will affect airports and ports as well as hospitals and office blocks.

Siteib, which represents nearly 60 per cent of the disgruntled workers, and CCOO, which represents around 35 per cent say demonstrations will be held at airports on the three islands on day one of the strike.

Across Europe, travellers are facing huge queues as lost luggage continues to pile up in the chaotic summer.

Liz Morgan arrived at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport four and a half hours before her flight to Athens, finding the line for security snaking out of the terminal and into a big tent along a road before doubling back inside the main building.

'There's elderly people in the queues, there's kids, babies. No water, no nothing. No signage, no one helping, no toilets,' said Morgan, who is from Australia and had tried to save time Monday by checking in online and taking only a carry-on bag.

People 'couldn't get to the toilet because if you go out of the queue, you lost your spot,' she said.

After two years of pandemic restrictions, travel demand has roared back, but airlines and airports that slashed jobs during the depths of the COVID-19 crisis are struggling to keep up. 

With the busy summer tourism season underway in Europe, passengers are encountering chaotic scenes at airports, including lengthy delays,

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