Ryanair crew call new strike

Cabin crew will go on strike in five European countries

LOW-COST airline Ryanair will be hit by another multicountry 24-hour strike by cabin crew on September 28.

Cabin crew unions in Spain, Germany, Italy, Belgium and Portugal have already filed the call with official EU bodies in Brussels.

In Spain, a meeting scheduled between Ryanair managers and cabin crew unions with the general director and the employment minister on September 5 had to be cancelled as the director was forced to resign (see main article on this page).

Unions claim the company has since 'not shown any intention of negotiating' over salaries and work conditions as they demand. The unions also claim the September 28 stoppage will bring chaos to airports in Europe, but Ryanair officials have rapidly answered by saying the impact of strikes this summer has been 'reduced to minimum' due to advanced cancellations and relocation of passenger book on affect flights.

The company has also said the during the pilots' strike in Ireland 280 of its 300 flights operated normally because '75%of Irish pilots turned up for work as usual'.

Meanwhile, a Ryanair pilots' strike in Germany on Wednesday forced the company to cancel 150 of 400 scheduled flights until yesterday (Thursday) morning.

Of the 44 Spain-bound flights cancelled, 12 affected passenger at Alicante-Elche and Valencia airports and two at Murcia-San Javier.