2023-04-18 01:28:59
Los cabin crew (TCP) of Air Europa Expressa low-cost subsidiary of Air Europa, are determined to call a strike next summer. As explained by the union representative of the TCP who heads the negotiation with the airline, the options for them to call mobilizations “they are 97% or 98%” given that, as he assures, the company is a long way from addressing in the negotiations that they are holding to sign their first collective agreement the demands that have been formulated to correct the, in his opinion, precarious working and salary conditions in which they work.
According to union sources, the Air Europa Express TCPs have had the same salary since the company was created in 2016, which they explain is 770 euros gross per month plus supplements; and the salary improvement offer that the company has proposed is 40 euros gross per month for the next few years. A rise that they consider insufficient taking into account that, as they add, their daily diet is 20 euroswhich forces them “to choose between lunch or dinner,” says Bermejo.
The workers’ representatives also denounce that the cabin crew of Air Europa Express endure a continued discrimination, subject to reprimands and the “use of other sanctioning measures” if they do not comply with the obligation to wear make-up, wear earrings, stockings and heels. “During the very long working days that can reach 12 hours, they are forced to “touch up” their makeup. On the other hand, it is of no importance to the company whether they have eaten properly or not,” say the workers’ representatives.
Bermejo also recalls that Air Europa Express has corrected aspects such as the obligation that the TCP had to pay rent for their uniforms or irregularities in the reductions in the working hours of working mothers and fathers “when forced to.”
“Air Europa Express flatly refuses in the negotiations to comply with the minimum requirements in order to ensure “decent” working conditions. If the negotiations end unsuccessfully, as expected, the cabin crew intend to go on strike throughout the 2023 summer season that will affect all short and medium-haul flights that operate for Air Europa,” warn the TCP.
More open conflicts
The call for mobilizations at Air Europa Express would be a major setback for Air Europa since the low-cost subsidiary operates the short and medium haul flights that feed the long haul flights of the main airline of the Globalia Group. These transoceanic flights are the ones that bring the greatest profitability to their accounts at a time when Air Europa is trying to turn around the bad numbers caused by the pandemic after signing its sale agreement at the end of February to IAG, the parent company of Iberia, for 500 million euros.
The probable call for a strike by the Air Europa Express cabin crew may not be the only one that the group has to face and could disrupt these recovery plans. The Spanish Union of Air Line Pilots (Sepla) announced at the beginning of the month that it was going to rresort to mediation by the Interconfederal Mediation and Arbitration Service (SIMA) “in response to the unfeasibility of the downward proposals and the immobile attitude shown by the business management of Air Europa in the face of the legitimate claims of the company’s pilot group “. For Sepla, mediation is the last resort that has led him to “the contempt for the demands shown by Air Europa, before calling a strike.”
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