New strikes affect British railways and air transport in Europe

First modification: 06/25/2022 – 21:20

Tens of thousands of British rail workers have struck again, for the third day this week, to demand pay rises to tackle inflation, which is reaching record levels in the country.

The strike, which began Tuesday and Thursday, is the largest in three decades.

Only one train in five was expected to run and half of the lines were to be closed, according to the traffic department. In addition, circulation was limited to between 07:30 and 18:30 local time. Disturbances are also expected on Sunday.

The president of the ‘Rail Delivery Group’, which represents British rail operators, Steve Mongomery, advised users to only travel “if necessary” and to inform themselves before doing so.

The transport union ‘RMT’, which called this three-day strike, calls for wage increases in line with inflation, but also denounces the prospect of “thousands of layoffs” and worsening working conditions.

“In a modern economy, workers must be paid correctly for their work, benefit from good conditions and have the peace of mind that they will not lose their jobs,” said the organization’s general secretary, Mike Lynch.

For his part, Transport Minister Grant Shapps accused the ‘RMT’ on Twitter of “damaging the lives of people who work hard every day.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government announced this week its intention to change the law to allow temporary workers to replace strikers and reduce what it sees as the “disproportionate” impact of walkouts.

Air transport affected in Belgium

Faced with the increase in the cost of living, not only in the United Kingdom but throughout Europe, discontent is growing among the population and the threat of a summer with strikes throughout the continent.

The cabin crew of the Irish low-cost airline ‘Ryanair’ from five countries (Spain, Italy, France, Portugal and Belgium) coordinated a strike this weekend to protest their working conditions.

In Belgium, only 41% of the planned flights of ‘Ryanair’ took off this Saturday from Charleroi airport, near Brussels, and the airline was forced to cancel 127 flights between Friday and Saturday, a spokesman for the airport.

The situation in Belgium was complicated by a three-day strike by the staff of the airline ‘Brussels Airlines’ that ended this Saturday and forced the cancellation from Thursday of 60% of the flights (out of a total of about 300) of the company which belongs to the German ‘Lufthansa’.

In Spain, the staff of ‘Ryanair’ carried out its second day of strike, with delays but without flight cancellations.

One of the unions that called the strike indicated in the morning that “there have been 15 delayed flights, both arrivals and departures.”

“This situation is expected to worsen throughout the day and tomorrow, since the ‘Ryanair’ system of maximum benefit, of leaving the minimum necessary time between flights, will cause chain delays,” he added.