On 3 July workers met at the offices of the Irish trade union Fórsa for the first ever Ryanair Crew Summit. After the meeting they have launched a “Ryanair Crew Charter” outlining the changes the company must make to bring it in line with comparable employers (scroll down for full text). Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Belgian Ryanair cabin crew and ground staff have now agreed to launch a strike on Wednesday 25 and Thursday 26 July. Next to the cabin crew and ground staff strike, around 100 pilots based in Ireland will set to strike on 12 July.
Cabin crew and groud staff strike on 25 and 26 July
The charter contains demands on economic conditions, safety and rostering, a fair and supportive work culture, agency employment, the right to sick pay and sales targets. A key demand is also that employment contracts explicitly recognise national law and jurisdiction in the country a worker is based.
The summit was organised by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF), as part of the Cabin Crew United alliance. Cabin crew representing around 80% of Ryanair’s cabin crew workforce and ground crew representing 100% of its ground crew workforce attended.
In December, after intense pressure from workers, Ryanair finally announced that it would recognise unions. However, little progress has been made over the last six months and there have so far been no concrete improvements in pay or working conditions at the airline.
If Ryanair fails to respond promptly and appropriately then it risks industrial action over the summer. The ITF and the ETF support all lawful industrial action undertaken by their national affiliates with the aim of winning a fair deal for workers.
Update: Ryanair cabin crew and ground staff in Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Spain have agreed to strike on Wednesday 25 and Thursday 26 July.
Ireland based Ryanair pilots set to strike on 12 July
Around 100 pilots that are employed and based in Ireland have voted for a 24-hour strike on “The Twelfth“, the start of the traditional holidays in Northern Ireland and likely to affect thousands of holidaymakers flying off from Dublin.
Members of the Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association (IALPA) are engaged in a dispute over arrangements for transferring flight crew between European and north African bases as well as seniority and annual leave arrangements, The Independent wrote.
Ryanair Crew Charter
We the crew, currently across 86 bases in 21 countries, who operate Ryanair flights and
carried 130 million passengers across the network last year demand
For cabin crew
On economic conditions
- A fair living wage that reflects the work we do
- Seniority pay
- Compensation for disruptive schedules and last minute duty changes
- End all the extra costs that we incur on our job- like water, food, uniforms, calling
crew control - Parity in living standards across bases
- Unpaid leave
- A fair, universal pension scheme
On safety and rostering
- Training on FTLs
- Stability on rosters
- Predictable working hours
- Preserving minimum rest periods in line with EASA regulation
On a fair and supportive work culture
- Fair system for base transfers, promotion and disciplinaries- it should not be
based on sales - Advance warning on changes in operations like base closure
- Easier access to crew control
- Prioritise seniority and safety
- Not being forced to open an Irish bank account
On agency employment
- Equity in standards across employers
- Fixed period for agency employment
- Towards the abolition of agency employment
On national contracts
- Employment contracts of all crew must explicitly recognise that national law and
jurisdiction In the country of the home base applies - The employment contract must be available in the language crew requires
Ryanair Crew Charter
On sickness
- Sick pay
- No pay deduction
- Easier process for reporting sick (translation, calling crew control, report at base,
fax) - Privacy around illness
On sales
- End the pressure
- No individual sales commission- crew should not compete with each other
- Sales commission divided by four cabin crew
- Should not be the basis for promotions/ transfers/ disciplinaries
For ground staff
- A fair living wage that reflects the work we do
- Better working conditions at least in line with the average of the ground handling
sector - Reduction in the yearly hours of work
- Develop and implement a health and safety policy with consultation from our trade
union - Transfers on to permanent contracts
