Warsaw (AFP) – Unions at Poland’s flagship carrier LOT said on Monday that they were calling off an indefinite strike scheduled for May 1 over pay demands after management obtained a court injunction.
LOT pilots and crew will instead picket the Warsaw headquarters of the state-owned airline on Tuesday, Adam Rzeszot, head of the pilots’ union told reporters.
“We’ve called off the strike action to give (Polish) Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki time to reflect on the social tensions in the company,” Rzeszot added.
LOT management obtained an injunction from the Warsaw regional court on Friday, arguing that the strike action was illegal, notably because only two out of six unions had called for it.
Some 900 of the airline’s 1,600 workers took part in a ballot last week on whether to hold a strike, with more than 800 voting for it.
The unions had said the move was in response to three years of fruitless pay negotiations with management.
The court issued the provisional ban on strike action on Friday pending a final ruling. It is due to address the case again on May 17.
Speaking after the court order, LOT CEO Rafal Milczarski told passengers “there is no danger of a strike starting May 1 and you can safely travel with LOT — there won’t be a strike.
Last year, around seven million passengers travelled with LOT, which flies to 90 destinations around the world.
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