Less bad than expected but…: There are still strikes in these countries during the holiday season

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In fact, we want to enjoy the waves on the Mediterranean coast. But there are fears of heat waves and strikes. Second, because many workers are dissatisfied with inflation not being buffered by higher wages. There have been repeated business disruptions affecting large numbers of passengers. Does this extend into the summer holiday season as well?

In Europe, there is little risk of strikes during the main travel season in the coming weeks. However, there can still be serious problems. Blick shows where there is still a strike and where it is not.

French unions have been fighting for months against raising the legal retirement age from 62 to 64. Strikes and protests have repeatedly paralyzed traffic across the country, most recently in June. However, no further strike announcements were made for the summer holiday season. Uncertainty factor: riots in the suburbs of major French cities in response to the shooting of a teenager a few weeks ago.

On Saturday, July 15, air traffic in Italy will be largely at a standstill, except for the early morning and late evening hours. Hundreds of flight cancellations. Examples: 20 Swiss flights – ten return flights each – were cancelled. According to Swiss, about 2,000 passengers were affected. The strikes also affect Italian state airline ITA Airways. This affects 133 flights. This includes the return flight between Zurich and Rome on Saturday.

There are various other local and regional strikes in Italy in July, an overview can be found here. Larger strike movements can also be expected from September. After all: there is no strike in August.

Deutsche Bahn and the union EVG accepted arbitration from 17 July. During this period, the peace obligation applies, strikes are not allowed. Train passengers won’t have to wait for disruptions due to the strike until then, as the outcome of the arbitration is unlikely to be announced before the end of August.

But strikes can happen at Lufthansa. Last year, they agreed with the Vereinigung Cockpit union that there would be no strike until the end of June 2023.

The Spanish pilots’ union’s indefinite strike against the regional airline Air Nostrum, operated by Iberia, has come to an end since the end of June. But there’s a risk of trouble on the popular holiday island of Mallorca: Wings Handling Palma, which provides airport services to Lufthansa’s subsidiary Eurowings, is threatening to go on strike in early and mid-August. The company provides assistance and operation services to Eurowings airline with its 300 employees. The strike will take place specifically on August 1, 3, 4, 8, 10 and 12. This will also result in cancellations and delays on other connections to and from Palma Airport.

The threat of a strike at England’s main airport, London Heathrow, has been averted. As of mid-July there is a threat of strike only at Birmingham Airport. But on 20, 22 and 29 July railroad workers want to go on strike under the umbrella of the RMT Syndicate, which will likely lead to a massive cancellation of rail traffic.

In Portugal, Easyjet staff plan to go on strike from 21 to 24 July. As a precaution, more than 350 flights to and from Lisbon, Porto and Faro were cancelled.

So it doesn’t sound as dramatic as it sounds in the spring. Had it not been for the strike threat from the European Aviation Safety Organization Eurocontrol. One of the unions, the Union Syndicale Bruxelles (USB), has threatened industrial action, without giving a specific date but with little notice. Employees work in the organization’s Network Manager Operations Center (NMOC), which manages more than ten million flights a year. During the summer months, the NMOC controls up to 33,000 flights per day. I can’t imagine what a strike would mean there.

Source :Blick