Belgium-based Ryanair cabin crew on strike on weekend from 22 to 24 April

The Christian trade union CNE/ACV Puls announces that the Belgian cabin crew of low-cost airline Ryanair will be on strike from Friday 22 to Sunday 24 April. The action will affect Ryanair flights from Brussels Airport and Brussels South Charleroi Airport. According to the union, management does not respect the fundamental rights of its Belgian employees and negotiations were unsuccessful.

An indefinite strike notice had been introduced on 1 April by the trade union to Ryanair management in Dublin on behalf of the Belgium-based cabin crew.

A final mediation attempt between the personnel representatives and the management “did not lead to the hoped-for solutions“, the union says. “Three years after having finally accepted to respect Belgian legislation, Ryanair continues to flout the rights of its workers,” says CNE secretary Didier Lebbe.

In particular, the union points to a major shortcoming in the absence of a human resources director who knows and implements the Belgian law. One was indeed hired but is no longer in function today, despite the fact that the airline employs 650 people in Belgium, of which 400 are flight attendants. Hans Elsen of ACV Puls explains that “wage slips are often wrong, wages are not paid correctly, essential documents for social legislation are not in order, and so on.”

A collective labour agreement for on-board personnel concluded in the spring of 2019 expired at the end of last month. It determined a fixed income for the staff, regardless of the number of flights performed.

According to the unions, 75 percent of cabin crew are paid the sectoral minimum wage. “They work on holidays, weekends, early and late hours for a paltry 2,000 euros gross, while Ryanair in Charleroi has a profit margin of 30 percent,” the unions said.