Strike of Eurocontrol employees may affect up to 30% of flights – Kommersant

Employees of the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol), which coordinates air traffic throughout Europe, intend to go on strike due to dissatisfaction with wages and working conditions. Because of this, up to 12.6 thousand flights per day, or 30% of their total number, can be canceled or postponed during the summer vacation season. This is reported The Times with reference to informed sources. The impact of the strikes could be “widespread and highly disruptive,” the sources said. “This is a full-scale strike, 20-30% of flights will be at least simply postponed,” sources say.

Specific strike dates may be announced by the trade unions representing the interests of Eurocontrol employees next Monday. In July and August, Eurocontrol is expected to need to coordinate and control around 33,000 flights per day, up 7% from a year earlier.

In a letter from the Union Syndicale Bruxelles (USB) to the leadership of Eurocontrol, the text of which was reviewed by The Times, a demand is put forward for the immediate hiring of at least 20 additional dispatchers to cope with the increased workload. The authors of the letter note that they are aware of the difficulties created by the strike, but see no other way to indicate the seriousness of the problem. “Our claims are legitimate, justified and fair, they are in the interests of the department, management, our shareholders, passengers and ourselves as dedicated employees of the department,” the letter says.

Alena Miklashevskaya