Cabin crew strike at Brussels Airlines: "8 out of 10 flights should go ahead today"

The Christian union announced plans to strike last week.  The strike runs from Wednesday to Friday this week.

The industrial conflict mainly centres on pay and work pressure. During the pandemic, cabin crews saw wages cut and increased productivity and accepted shorter rest periods. Now that Brussels Airlines is doing better financially, flight attendants want their share of the pudding.

Union official Didier Lebbe said yesterday's talks had achieved nothing and that the strike was "inevitable". He has called for written proposals from the management, which can then be submitted to staff. According to Brussels Airlines these proposals are already on the table.

The socialist and liberal trade unions have not yet joined the strike. They are waiting for another meeting with management this morning and will then decide whether to join the strike or not, says Olivier Van Camp of the socialist union BBTK. Most of the cabin crews are affiliated to these two unions.

"Disruption remains limited"

Brussels Airlines says the vast majority of flights, about 8 out of 10, will be able to continue Wednesday.

"We have contacted staff and we are told that the vast majority want to fly," said spokesman Nico Cardone. "It may well happen that we will have to cancel the occasional flight, for example to destinations that have several daily flights, in order to allow all other flights to go ahead."

The management regrets the strike and says there have been "constructive meetings" over the past few days. Striking now "does not bring a solution any closer", it says. "There is an extensive proposal on the table and all union representatives agree to continue the talks on the basis of this proposal. A strike now makes no sense, as these talks will continue anyway."