If you are planning on travelling with Transavia during the Spring holiday in the Netherlands, you might be a little late to your destination. Dutch pilots working for Transavia are planning on striking in the second half of February. The strike is a result of collective labour agreement negotiations coming to a halt.
Recently, negotiations with Transavia regarding better working conditions came to a halt. At the airline, around 500 pilots have been working for over a year without a collective labour agreement (CAO), and a strike now seems to be the only way to have their voices heard.
At Schiphol, the Dutch Airline Pilots Association (VNV) has been handing out flyers to warn passengers about a potential strike and the reasons for it. In particular, pilots at Transavia want to have a regular schedule and more control over their free time. Currently, pilots have a very unpredictable timetable, making it difficult to combine work with any other tasks.
Pilots are also asking for a modest salary increase and want Transavia to contribute to an occupational disability scheme, similar to that of their parent company KLM. Such a scheme would allow those who can no longer pilot planes to receive a monetary amount from a foundation, which would be specially established for this purpose.
If and when the strike will take place is unclear; however, it must be announced 12 hours in advance. It is likely that a strike will take place in the morning and will therefore disrupt morning flights and delay those later on in the day.
During the strike, it is expected that Transavia planes scheduled to take off from airports in Schiphol, Eindhoven and Rotterdam will not leave the ground. The strike will probably last a few hours, although this is not certain.
Transavia hopes to prevent a strike and will be meeting with the VNV again this week. They intend to reach an agreement with the pilots’ interests in mind, as well as the passengers who would be affected by a strike.