Portuguese easyJet Cabin Crew Vote Unanimously to Strike Over October and December Holidays

All 188 easyJet employees attending an emergency general meeting in Portugal voted unanimously to strike on two separate occasions — October 2 to 6 and December 19 to 23 — the National Union of Civil Aviation Flight Personnel, known as SNPVAC, announced on September 18. The union said the vote followed what it described as numerous unsuccessful attempts by easyJet's Portuguese cabin crew to resolve pay and labour issues that the company had "ignored." Its grievances span several areas: frequent last-minute roster changes, alleged breaches of the existing collective labour agreement, what the union calls unequal treatment compared with the airline's pilots, ongoing operational planning problems, and forced overtime the union attributes to chronic understaffing. SNPVAC also accused easyJet of paying wages "below those paid by other airlines operating in Portugal and below those paid by easyJet itself in other countries," framing the dispute partly around pay parity with the airline's crews elsewhere in Europe. The October strike dates fall directly alongside Portugal's Republic Day holiday on October 5, extending the disruption across what would otherwise be a long weekend for many travellers, while the December strike falls in the final stretch before Christmas, one of the airline's highest-demand periods. Roughly 500 flights are estimated to be at risk of grounding during the October action alone if the strike proceeds as planned.