French EasyJet cabin crew still threatening Christmas strike action

Unions representing EasyJet cabin crew are continuing to threaten strike action over the Christmas period following a meeting last week (December 1) with management, which did not result in an agreement on pay, reports Reuters.

Negotiations are set to continue until Wednesday (December 7). An official strike notice has not yet been issued but an SNPNC representative said that if EasyJet does not accept the workers’ pay demands, a strike will be “inevitable”.

The SNPNC and UNAC unions are calling for an 8% pay rise for air stewards and stewardesses to cover inflation and the rise in the cost of their top-up health insurance. The SNPNC has said that EasyJet has offered a less than 6% rise, but the airline has not confirmed this.

French EasyJet unions are also opposing the collective employee agreement which governs its cabin crew.

The SNPNC-FO union has issued a warning over “a very significant risk that cabin crew activity will be suspended over the end of year holidays, in line with negotiations over salaries.

“After nearly two years of colossal efforts on the part of the air stewards and stewardesses, during which our working conditions really declined because of serious strategic errors for which only the management is responsible, EasyJet is proposing pay increases which do not even cover inflation, and is refusing the key points of our demands,” the union added.

This comes as Air France cabin crew have also been called to strike in the period between December 22 and January 2.

They are calling for a temporary collective staff agreement to be signed to replace their original, which expired in October.

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