easyJet\'s Portugal pilots to strike christmas-new year

Pilots based in Portugal for the British lowcost airline easyJet announced Friday they are to strike five days over the Christmas-New Year's period to demand better conditions. "The easyJet pilots based in Lisbon have lodged strike notice for December 13, 24, 26 and 31 as well as for January 1," their SPAC union said in a statement. The industrial action will see the 43 company pilots stopping work for 24 hours each time, with only a minimum service ensuring daily links to Portugal's Madeira archipelago, a sunny location in the Atlantic off the African coast which attracts winter tourism. The pilots complain that easyJet is not respecting Portuguese labour law in terms of vacation leave and maximum working hours. They also claim that the British budget airline is "taking advantage" of Portugal's fragile economy "to sacrifice its workers' labour conditions, especially those of its pilots who are the worst paid of all the company's European bases".