The first day of the strike to which Vueling's 2,250 cabin crew are called took place this Tuesday with hardly any incidents at Barcelona airport and the rest of the aerodromes where the company operates in Spain. The Stavla union has called strikes on Fridays, Sundays and Mondays until January 31, in addition to holidays, such as Tuesday, to demand a 13.4% salary increase. This increase would be added to the salary increase of 6.5% signed by Vueling and CC.OO. in summer, but from which Stavla distanced itself.
Much of the cabin crew strikes suffered this year by airlines in Spain (Ryanair, Iberia Express and Vueling) have as a backdrop a trade union war between CC.OO. and other organizations, like USO and now Stavla. Every time the Workers' Commissions sign an agreement with an airline among the cabin crew, the other union calls for a strike.
At the Barcelona airport, Vueling's main base, the situation was normal this morning. The company has taken measures to minimize the impact of the cabin crew protest, to which Commissions have not joined, and has been able to operate without problems related to the strike and with a punctuality of 90.4%. In total, the airline had suspended 25 of the 156 flights scheduled for today in Barcelona preventively, as they were planes not covered by the minimum services and waiting to see the real follow-up of the strike among the workers. Thus, the 131 flights that it has finally decided to program in El Prat are taking off and landing without notable incidents.
In total, Vueling has canceled 54 flights of the 520 planned for its entire network today. The affected passengers have been relocated to other flights, either from Vueling or from other companies, or alternative transportation has been sought, such as the bus. A minority has requested a bonus or the return of the amount of the ticket. In this way, Vueling, as other airlines with open labor disputes have already done, tries to anticipate the incidences of the strike, warning passengers who are not protected by minimum services in advance. This avoids crowds at the airport, customer complaints and images of long queues and problems that have saturated El Prat on other occasions. It is also a way to take the pulse of the strike follow-up. If the workers do not second it, they will stop suspending the flights not covered by the minimum services.
In the rest of Spanish airports there have been no major changes due to the strike and 88.6% of Vueling's planes have taken off and landed on time. Of course, some passengers have explained to this newspaper that the food service has been restricted on their trip. The usual car with food and drink has not passed and passengers have been ordered to go directly to a point on the plane if they wanted to buy food as it is "a flight with minimum services", as they have been informed on board.
In contrast, the Stavla union has stated that the follow-up to the strike on the morning shift has been "massive." The stoppages have started today and will take place every Friday, Sunday and Monday until January 31, 2023, as well as this November 1, December 6, 8, 24 and 31 and January 5, key dates for bridges and holidays of Christmas. During this period, the Ministry of Transport estimates that up to 3.2 million passengers, 70,500 a day, could be affected by the protest, although it has established minimum services on all routes. These vary between 22% and 80% depending on the journey.
