A two-month truce in the labour dispute between Ryanair pilots based in Belgium and management will be respected if and only the negotiations with unions "go well", the French-speaking union CNE stressed on Friday evening,
The CNE was clarifying initial statements made by its Flemish counterpart ACV Puls.
The latter indicated that the parties had agreed on a two-month truce which would see no more pilot strikes in Charleroi. In return, the management would have been required to actually sit down at the negotiating table and not unilaterally impose certain decisions, for example on working hours.
However, that initial statement is "erroneous or largely optimistic", Felipe Van Keirsbilck, CNE's secretary-general said on Friday.
"It is true that protocols were signed on Friday", in which Ryanair and the Christian union would engage in negotiations. "If these negotiations go well and there is real progress, we will not strike," underlines the French-speaking union leader.
CNE General Secretary Felipe Van Keirsbilck pictured during a protest in 2013. Credit: Belga / Virginie Lefour
However, Van Keirsbilck considers this view "very optimistic", otherwise, staff will resort back to strike action to once again put pressure on management.
The Christian union is pursuing a threefold goal in the negotiations: "the management's compliance with the law regarding the minimum wage", respect for the concluded agreement on rest times and, finally, the return to pre-Covid and index-linked pilots' pay to cope with inflation, Van Keirsbilck stresses.
During the Covid-19 crisis, which crippled mobility globally, pilots allowed salary cuts, which they now find inadequately compensated. "If we achieve those three results, there will be no more strikes," he concluded.
