Finnair to cancel approximately 550 flights due to political strike in Finland on 1–2 February

Several employee unions in Finland have announced a political strike against the Finnish Government, taking place on February 1–2, 2024. The political strike will have a significant impact on Helsinki Airport’s operations and on Finnair’s flight operations, and consequently, Finnair expects to cancel approximately 550 flights between 1.–2.2.2024. 

Finnair has approximately 280 flights per day in its normal traffic program, so the vast majority of flights will be cancelled. Finnair targets to operate a handful of flights during the strike and will communicate directly to those customers who have booking on flights that will be flown.  

Finnair will implement flight cancellations in its systems one flight at a time, starting from Tuesday morning January 30, with customers being offered alternative routings. Customers on long-haul flights with onward connections from Helsinki on February 1–2 will be routed directly to their destinations, as there are no connections from Helsinki during the strike. 

During the strike, ground services, such as baggage loading​,​ and ​inflight service (e.g. food and drink offerings)​, may be ​affected​ and the flights that ​do operate​ on those days may be delayed.  

"We have already given customers the opportunity to change their travel dates on Finnair flights. From January 30 onwards we start rerouting customers, using also other airlines’ flights,” says Jari Paajanen, Vice President, Finnair Operations Control Center.  

Due to the large number of cancelled flights and customers, processing the cancellations and rerouting customers takes approximately two days. 

"We will do our very best to offer a suitable flight option to as many customers as possible, but the number of alternative flights is limited," says Paajanen. "We ask customers to kindly wait for the rerouting from us, as our customer service team is busier than usual and queue times can be long."  

“It is unfortunate that the political strike will affect so many customers’ travel. We will work in close collaboration with our partners to ensure that after the strike, our flight operations can again commence as smoothly as possible,” says Jari Paajanen.  

Southwest Airlines flight attendants approve strike action by 98%

Southwest Airlines flight attendants have endured more than five years without a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with Southwest Airlines, and they have had enough. Today, TWU Local 556, the union of Southwest Airlines flight attendants, announced results of members’ strike authorization vote. More than 98 percent of voting members authorized the TWU Local 556 Executive Board to call for a strike against Southwest Airlines.

This is the first time in the union’s history that flight attendants have taken a vote to authorize a strike against Southwest Airlines, and the results were resounding.

“Equity, equality and respect – those are the non-negotiables for our members,” Lyn Montgomery, president of TWU Local 556 and a career flight attendant, said. “Pay that sets a new industry standard is a necessity, absolutely, but so is our personhood being valued just as highly as that of management and other employees here at Southwest Airlines.”

Scheduling for on-call rotations, appropriate compensation for ground time, improved commuter policies, and the ability to have a safe place to sleep on overnights are among the contract improvements flight attendants need to see in their new contract, Montgomery explained.

Recent posts by flight attendants and TWU Local 556 contain the phrase: “Deceived. Devalued. Disrespected,” expressing the frustration that flight attendants have with members of management.

“When you are told at the negotiating table that certain work rule changes are off-limits and then you grant them to another workgroup, it’s clear that you do not value employees equally,” Montgomery said. “This is not just about job roles; at this point, our fight is about valuing our very personhood. Our employer has failed to implement even no-cost work rule changes that would improve our quality of life. While we battle for our earned value professionally, we find that we also fight to be valued as people. Even that seems up in the air with Southwest Airlines management today.”

Conducting a strike authorization vote is an important step toward striking, as outlined by Section 6 of the Railway Labor Act. If TWU Local 556 and Southwest Airlines cannot reach an agreement in federal mediation, the union could request to be released into a thirty-day cooling-off period, after which 21,000+ Southwest Airlines flight attendants would be free to strike the largest domestic carrier.

Impact of Birmingham airport strikes to be more severe after High Court ban on agency workers

High Court ruling banning agency workers could have a devastating effect on Birmingham Airport's future.  

Unite union members at Birmingham Airport reject pay offer of more than 10%

A strike by 150 security and technicians at Birmingham Airport could have a much greater impact following a decision by the High Court to ban the airport from bringing in agency workers during strike action, in order to keep the airport safe. 

According to Unite general secretary Sharon Graham the high court ruling "Is a total vindication for unions and workers. The government’s decision to allow employers to recruit agency workers to undermine legal strike action was a cynical move to back their friends in business and weaken workers’ legal rights to withdraw their labour.

It was entirely counterproductive as, rather than weaken industrial action, it has hardened attitudes and unnecessarily extended strikes. Birmingham Airport should be aware that this will happen if it decides to use strikebreakers in the short time it has to use them before the strikes begin and the ban comes into place. The only way this dispute will be resolved is with an acceptable offer from the company."

Workers at Birmingham will begin an all-out continuous strike on 18 July following a rejection of the 10.5% pay offer from the airport management.  

Airlines set to have flights cancelled and passengers' travel plans ruined include TUI, easyJet, Wizz, Ryanair, Lufthansa and Emirates.

A spokesperson for the airport said "Union members have rejected a fresh pay offer of 10.5 per cent despite a recommendation to accept it from their union representatives, for whose support we are grateful.

We continue to make preparations to minimise the impacts of strike action on our customers. Our advice to customers remains to arrive at the airport in line with guidance from their airline."

The strike action may have a more far-reaching impact as one of the airport's biggest shareholders is said to be currently reviewing its UK investments due to the impacts of the economy and limited future development. 

Gatwick could be crippled by strike action later this month....

London Gatwick could be crippled by strike action later this month as around 950 workers are set to walk out over pay and conditions.

The Unite Union members that are ready to take industrial action are employed by four different companies at the Sussex airport  – ASC, Menzies Aviation, GGS and DHL Services Ltd. They are employed in various roles, including, aircraft dispatch, baggage handling, check-in, customer service,  ground handling and ramp agent. Some of the airlines that will face major disruption include British Airways, easyjet, Ryanair, Tui, WestJet and Wizz Air.

Initial strike dates run from 28th July to 1st August, the second period is scheduled for 4th August to 8th August with a longer period planned for later in August.  The union is happy to destroy the travel plans of other hard-working people by timing the industrial action at the start of the peak summer school holiday period.

Unite regional officer Dominic Rothwell said: “Strike action will inevitably cause severe delays, disruption and cancellations across Gatwick’s operations but this dispute is entirely of the companies own making. They have had every opportunity to make our members’ a fair pay offer but have chosen not to do so.”

Strike to close three Scottish airports in the run up to Christmas

At least three airports serving isolated island communities in Scotland will have to be closed after Unite union calls strike action on 19 and 20 December, cruelly ending Christmas family reunions and celebrations.

Staff are walking out over a bitter pay dispute in which they've already turned down a 5% increase, will force the closure of the Outer Hebridean islands of  Barra and Benbecula airports as well as Shetland's Sumburgh Airport. The action will also cause reduced hours at Stornoway Airport which will only be open for between 13.00 and 19.45 on both days. Kirkwall Airport will only be open for the morning on both days and only for inter-island flights.

The union says the striking firefighters will provide cover in case of medical emergencies and the airports operator Highlands and Islands Airports Limited says there is established local on-call medical emergency processes for any such eventualities. 

Inglis Lyon, HIAL’s managing director said: “We deeply regret the disruption and inconvenience to our airline partners, passengers, and local communities that this action will cause.

Against the backdrop of unprecedented financial pressures, we presented an enhanced pay offer to colleagues that maximised the flexibility within the Scottish Government’s pay policy, which HIAL is bound by.

We recognise the challenges colleagues face due to inflationary pressures and the cost-of-living crisis.  However, the claim for a rise of at least RPI is unrealistic, and any further offer must be met from cost savings within existing budgets.  

We will continue dialogue with the trade unions in an attempt to avoid further industrial action.”

One local resident said that her family Christmas plans were now in tatters as her children whom had been booked to arrive on 19th December, would not now be able to arrive in time. Their first festive get together since the onset of the covid pandemic have now had to be cancelled. 

 

UK Border Force to screw up Christmas for millions of travellers........

Photo by Yolanda Suen on Unsplash

Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union has confirmed that its members working for the UK's Border Force workers will strike at six major UK airports for at least eight days over the Christmas period screwing up travel plans for millions.

The union has called strike action between 23rd and 26th December, and then from 28th to 31st December and will affect the UK's major airports London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow and Cardiff.  A strike will also impact the south coast port of Newhaven, which would have devastating consequences for the only loss-making route to Dieppe by Transmanche Ferries / DFDS.  These dates have been chosen by the union, it says,  to have the maximum impact by causing the most disruption to passengers. 

PCS Mark Serwotka told media that 40,000 of its members were having to use food banks, while 45,000 were claiming in-work benefits. Although, union reps couldn't say how many of those going on strike were included in those numbers.   The union are calling for a 10% pay increase, better job security, with no cuts to pensions or redundancies.  

eGates should remain operational throughout the strikes for those with biometric passports from EU countries, Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland or the USA.

Most civil servants have received just a 2% pay rise this year and after a pay freeze for a number of years. PCS said 86% of its 100,000 members across 124 government departments and public sector employers have voted in favour of strike action and promised more strikes - over all departments would be called next year.  So far only a few jobcentres and benefits offices will take strike action in the coming weeks, however, the union is already making plans for most Universal Credit service centres to see crippling walkouts in the new year. 

The Christmas action will affect millions of people who had been planning getaways over the festive period and to reunite with relatives from overseas.  Robert Jenrick, the Immigration Minister called the strike "unjustifiable and will ruin the plans of thousands of families and businesses across the country. - While we are working closely with all UK ports and airports and have robust plans in place to minimise any delays if strike action goes ahead, passengers should be prepared for their plans to be severely disrupted."

Gatwick Airport said it will deploy extra staff on strike days to help with the welfare of stranded passengers and were in consultation with Border Force over mitigation however, delays of between 4 and 6 hours should be expected.  

The Business Travel Association warned  "The entire travel support system will once more be plunged into dealing with cancellations and disruptions rather than bookings with no financial recompense.  - further strike action puts British workers’ Christmases at risk. Hard workers up and down the country will be stranded, struggling to get home."

A spokesperson for London Heathrow Airport claimed that "Our priority is to ensure passengers get through the border safely and as quickly as possible. We are working closely with airlines and Border Force on mitigation plans for potential strike action by Border Force officers and these plans will now be implemented for the notified days."

Manchester Airport said "It is hugely regrettable that the PCS Union has chosen to disrupt one of the most important times of the year for international travel by calling a strike by Border Force officers at several UK ports, including Manchester Airport, for 23-26 December and 28-31 December.  We urge union and Government representatives to work together to find a solution to avert this strike action."

It added: "We will be working with our airlines to provide passengers with as much advance notice of cancelled services as possible, so that people have the chance to rebook their travel around the strike days. Arriving passengers should also be prepared for much longer immigration queues on strike days, owing to reduced Border Force staffing levels.  Those due to travel during the affected period should look out for communications from their airlines over the coming days."

Eurowings pilots strike likely to ruin travel plans of around 30,000 tomorrow.

According to the German budget airline, Eurowings, part of the mighty Lufthansa Group, about 30,000 passengers will likely have travel plans disrupted by a one-day strike called by the firm's pilots. 

Whilst Eurowings says it will do all it could to mitigate the disruption, with up to half of its flights operating to the timetable. yet thousands of people will have flights cancelled or delayed with the inconvenience set to last for days after the strike. 

Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) the pilots union confirmed the strike would take place which follows ten rounds of talks that had subsequently failed.  The dispute is over working hours,  the union wants pilots' workloads to be greatly reduced, or rest time extended.

Eurowings consists of two flight operations. Only flights operated by Eurowings Germany are affected by the strike call, not those operated by Eurowings Europe. Eurowings is doing everything possible to minimise the impact of the strike action on passengers. The airline expects to be able to operate around half of its normal flight programme. In addition to Eurowings Europe, the airline can also rely on partners of the Lufthansa Group.