UK, Italy, Germany: Travel strikes planned for January

Strikes are a regular occurrence in Europe, as employees withhold their labour to fight for better pay and conditions.

Walkouts are sometimes planned months ahead but others are announced last minute, showing that it always pays to check before you travel.

Luckily, we have gathered all of the strike information together below.

Read on to find out where and when are walkouts taking place.

If your flight or train is cancelled or delayed, you will be entitled to a new ticket or compensation. Read our guide for the full details.

UK: Northern Ireland public transport strike

Public transport workers will join a mass strike day in Northern Ireland on 18 January.

The walkout over pay improvements will involve bus, rail and ferry staff, among other public sectors.

UK train drivers call rolling strike

Members of the Aslef union have called a rolling schedule of one-day strikes and an overtime ban between 30 January and 5 February.

The walkouts will impact different operators on different days, including Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, West Midlands Trains, GTR, LNER, Southeastern, SWR and TransPennine Trains.

Train drivers are in a long-running dispute over pay, which they say has not increased in five years.

Italy: Nationwide public transport strike in Italy

A 24-hour public transport strike will hit Italy nationwide on 24 January. It could cause significant disruption for commuters using buses, trams and subways but is not expected to impact regional and long distance trains.

On the same day, air traffic controllers are set to walk out from 1-5pm, potentially causing delays and cancellations for travellers flying to and from Italy.

Germany: Train drivers announce open-ended strikes

Train drivers in Germany walked out from 10-12 January, with further strikes expected in 2024.

Last week’s strikes serious disruptions as workers walked out in a long running dispute with train operator Deutsche Bahn over hours, pay and working conditions.

‘Open-ended strikes’ could hit Germany’s rail network in the coming months if an agreement is not reached in the next collective bargaining negotiations on 17 January.

If you know of a big strike happening in your country that we have missed, we’d love to hear from you via Twitter.