The strike of Ryanair's ground staff, specifically the workers of its subsidiary Azul Handling, will go on strike at all Ryanair bases in Spain, including Lanzarote, on August 15, 16 and 17 and could be extended every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday until December 31, 2025.
The mediation that took place last week through the Interconfederal Mediation and Arbitration Service (SIMA), between Ryanair and its ground staff "was unsuccessful", as explained to La Voz by José Manuel Macián, head of trade union action of UGT in the aeronautical sector.
Thus, the nearly 2,600 Ryanair ground staff in Spain will go on strike on August 15, 16 and 17. "It would be a miracle if it didn't happen" during those three days, Macián considers. The Ministry of Transport has not yet established the minimum services.
Ryanair operates 17% of flights to and from Lanzarote with a total of 124 weekly flights. In total, the island has 702 weekly flights from all companies combined.
The call will affect all bases and workplaces of the company in Spain and will take place between 5.00 am and 9.00 am, between 12.00 pm and 3.00 pm and between 9.00 pm and 11.59 pm.
The strike is motivated by sanctions against workers who refuse to work non-compulsory hours, with "punishments of up to 36 days without employment or salary", according to UGT.
"For us, the most important thing and the essential thing to proceed with a de-call is that the company withdraws the sanctions and reconsiders, there are already more than 100 workers sanctioned", explains Macián.
"Ryanair is disciplinarily sanctioning those who have not voluntarily registered to work hours for extraordinary reasons. That is coercing workers, it is very serious and it is not the message we want to send to the rest of the companies in the sector", explains the union delegate.
"As Ryanair does not have stable full-time employment, it uses part-time permanent contracts to give them hours when it needs them, that is, they do not make linear schedules, they do not have stability. In this company everything is precarious", he summarizes.
"What we have told the company is that we do not need to block the activity, or harm the users, but for this the company has to have the goodwill to withdraw the sanctions it is imposing. The only thing the company has proposed is to reduce the sanctions by half and for us it is not enough", explained the union delegate to La Voz.
Ryanair's bases in Spain, according to its own website, are located in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Malaga, Alicante, Ibiza, Palma de Mallorca, Girona, Tenerife South, Lanzarote and Santiago.
