The Spanish Union of Airline Pilots (Sepla) has called a strike at Air Europa for May 1, 2, 4 and 5 at all bases and work centers in Spain, as announced this Wednesday.
Sepla announced yesterday its intention to call a strike during the months of May and June after the failure of the negotiations in the Interconfederal Mediation and Intermediation Service (SIMA) on the V Collective Agreement and before the “tension and labor conflict generated by the directors of Air Europe”.
Specifically, from the union they have accused the company of “playing” with the rights of workers and of “disguising” as proposals what supposes a “real loss” of the labor rights of the previous collective agreement.
Sepla has denounced that the Air Europa pilots “feel discriminated against by the company” as they are the only group “affected by this way of acting by the company” and refuses to give in because this “would be irresponsible with regard to the professional and personal future of the group of pilots”.
In addition, they allege that the directors of the airline “have opted for confrontation instead of negotiation, threatening and disqualifying the pilots instead of seeking a point of understanding between both parties” during the SIMA mediations.
The representation of the pilots values ​​their commitment to the future of the company, demonstrated during the pandemic, and their “responsibility for social peace” by not calling a strike since 2011, but “they will not allow” a business management that ” seeks to profit against users and workers”.
They also recall that the pilots approved the representation by Sepla last February and express their wish that this strike “does not serve as an excuse to coerce and pressure”, although “it has already happened in the circular sent by the business management to their employees”.
In said circular, to which Europa Press has had access, the management of the company calls the strike call “irresponsible and selfish” and warns of the millions in losses that it could cause, which would compromise future actions, such as the purchase of new aircraft, and compliance with the Viability Plan.
“A measure as drastic and selfish as this strike, as well as its disproportionate effects, are not going to help the pilots’ union representatives or the pilots themselves to achieve the objectives they set out to achieve, quite the contrary,” they warned in the notice.
