The strike could be organised in the middle of the tourist season.
Pilots, cabin crew, technicians and employees taking care of Croatia Airlines passengers will launch a strike. This was decided at a meeting of the Croatia Airlines Workers’ Union, reports Večernji List on June 15, 2017.
Employees of the Croatian national airline who are members of the trade union will strike because they have not agreed on a new collective agreement with the management. The previous collective agreement expired on 31 December 2016. In May, the mediation process between the union and the management ended unsuccessfully, thus fulfilling all the legal conditions foreseen for the launch of industrial action.
The trade union members are unhappy with the previous collective bargaining agreement which they say was imposed on them in 2013 when they also started a strike wanting to retain the rights from the previous collective bargaining agreement. Now they want a new collective agreement or at least for negotiations on it to start.
When the strike will be organised has not yet been decided because, according to the trade union, the organisation of such industrial action in an airline is quite complicated, but it can be expected this will probably happen during July. And that means in the middle of the tourist season, which is the busiest period of the year for Croatia Airlines.
The Croatia Airlines management says they have not yet been notified by the trade union about the industrial action and that, accordingly, they cannot comment on the alleged strike. But they point out that the management has been calling on social partners to enter into constructive dialogue and collective bargaining since November 2016, with a view to signing a new collective agreement. That is still the position of the management.
The last strike at the Croatian national airline was organised in May 2013 and lasted for eight days. At the time, the company suffered losses amounting to many millions. During the strike, some of the flights were cancelled, while the flight schedule was partially modified. Passengers whose flights were cancelled were redirected to partner companies, and Croatia Airlines hired airplanes from other airlines due to the strike. During the strike, the scope of work activities which must be performed regardless of the strike was prescribed, and at the time it was 37 percent of scheduled flights.
This summer, airplanes of the Croatian national air carrier will be employed more than in previous tourist seasons, and they will execute 105 flights a day at the peak of the tourist season.
