Government orders minimum services for easyJet strike after dispute between parties

On Monday, the government ordered a minimum level of service for easyJet cabin crew to strike from Thursday to Saturday on flights to Madeira, Geneva, Luxembourg and London after the company and its union failed to reach an agreement.

A statement sent by the Ministry of Infrastructure said the definition of minimum services includes services considered “essential to meet basic social needs related to the constitutional right to travel”, taking into account the number of days of strike at the time in question, “in which, for social reasons, we are witnessing the movement of a significant number of people and the fact that we are in the middle of the IATA (International Air Transport Association airport nomenclature) summer, as well as the need to ensure the territorial integrity of the autonomous regions.”

The government has therefore determined that on Thursday the airline will provide at least three connecting flights Lisbon – Funchal – Lisbon, one connecting flight Lisbon – Geneva – Lisbon, one connecting flight Lisbon – Luxembourg – Lisbon, two connecting flights Porto – Funchal – Porto, one connecting flight Porto – Geneva – Porto, one connecting flight Porto – Luxembourg – Porto, another Porto – Porto Santo Porto, one connecting flight Faro – Geneva – Faro and another Faro – London – Faro.

On the 16th, two services Lisbon – Funchal – Lisbon, one Lisbon – Geneva – Lisbon, one Lisbon – Luxembourg – Lisbon, one Lisbon – Porto Santo – Lisbon, two Porto – Funchal – Porto, one Porto – Geneva – Porto, Porto – Luxembourg – Porto, Faro – Geneva – Faro, and also Faro – London – Faro should be completed.

On the last of the three days of the 24-hour strike, the airline must operate two connecting flights Lisbon – Funchal – Lisbon, one connecting flight Lisbon – Geneva – Lisbon, one connecting flight Porto – Funchal – – Porto, one Porto – Geneva-Porto, one Porto – Luxembourg-Porto, one Faro – Geneva-Faro, and one connecting flight Faro – London-Faro.

In the notice of the strike, the National Union of Civil Aviation Pilots (SNPVAC) stated that no minimum services should be established for this strike, arguing that the concept of unavoidable needs in the air transport sector is limited only to the autonomous regions of the Azores and Madeira, for reasons of national cohesion and the isolation of the populations for which this type of transport is essential, and which are destinations provided by other airlines.

The General Directorate of Employment and Labour Relations (DGERT) organised a meeting between the union and the company to determine the minimum level of services, as is usually the case when there is no agreement between the parties, and the airline presented a proposal that SNPVAC did not agree with.

“EasyJet – Airline Company Limited – Branch in Portugal is a private company and therefore, in the absence of an agreement, the determination of the minimum services and the means necessary to provide them is the responsibility of the members of the government responsible for the human resources of the area and sector of activity in question,” the ministry explains in the same note.

According to the strike notice sent by the union to the Ministry of Labour and the airline, which Lusa had access to, the strike starts at 00:01 on August 15 and ends at 24:00 on August 17 for “all easyJet operated flights, as well as for other services performed by cabin crew” in the country.

The union says workers are unhappy with “a persistent and increasingly severe lack of respect for their professional dignity,” problems with schedule instability, discriminatory treatment of pilots in summer break compensation, understaffing in all relevant departments or being forced to work overtime.