Ryanair Pilots’ Strike Threatens Morocco-Belgium Flights Next Week

Ryanair pilots based in Belgium are starting, for the third time, a new strike this summer, reports Air Journal. Flights between Morocco and Belgium are at risk of being disrupted on Monday, August 14 and Tuesday, August 15. The two previous strikes forced the Irish low-cost airline to cancel about a hundred flights departing and arriving from its Belgian base in Charleroi-Brussels South, including flights between Tangier, Fez, Essaouira, Oujda, Rabat and the Belgian city. The origin of these strikes is the non-satisfaction of the pilots’ demands: restoration of their salary after the cuts granted during the Covid-19 pandemic and problems concerning their rest time.

"They have had the same salary since 2019, which represents a 17% indexation," says Didier Lebbe, a permanent member of the CNE union, calling on the Belgian political authorities to intervene in the social conflict. The union denounces the low-cost Irish company’s refusal to automatically index salaries. "Ryanair refuses automatic indexation of salaries in Belgium, but they are not the ones making the laws in this country, the union leader fumes. It’s time for an authority, federal or regional, to rein in this company."