The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled in a judgment handed down on Tuesday, 23 March, that a strike organised by a trade union of the staff of an air carrier and intended, in particular, to secure pay increases does not fall within the concept of an ‘extraordinary circumstance’ able to release the airline from its obligation to pay its passengers compensation for the cancellation or long delay of the flights concerned (Case C-28/20).
The company SAS refused to financially compensate an air passenger whose flight from Malmö to Stockholm was cancelled due to a pilots’ strike organised by the trade unions in accordance with the conditions laid down by national legislation (e.g., compliance with the one-week notice period). According to the company, this situation constitutes an ‘extraordinary circumstance’ within the meaning of Regulation 261/2004 on compensation and assistance to air passengers.
Taking the opposing view of the Opinion of the Advocate General (see EUROPE 12679/27), the Court of Justice ruled that the concept of an ‘extraordinary circumstance’, within the meaning of EU law, does not include strike action entered into upon a call by a trade union of the staff of an air carrier in accordance with the conditions laid down by national legislation and intended to assert the demands of a category of staff essential for operating a flight.
A fundamental right guaranteed by the European Charter of Fundamental Rights (Article 28), a strike—as one of the ways in which collective bargaining on pay and/or working conditions may manifest itself—must be regarded as an event inherent in the normal exercise of the employer’s activity according to the Court of Justice. This also applies to air carriers.
Secondly, the European court found that an air carrier faced with a strike of its staff that was initiated in accordance with national rules cannot claim that it has no control over that action. It adds that this strike even constitutes an internal company event—unlike events that are external to an airline’s activity, such as strikes by air traffic controllers or airport staff.
However, the Court of Justice clarified that, if a staff strike originates from demands that only the public authorities can satisfy, that strike may constitute an ‘extraordinary circumstance’ insofar as it is beyond the air carrier’s actual control.
See the judgment: http://bit.ly/3193CWn (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)