European-wide strike actions are being considered against Irish low-cost airline Ryanair in the coming weeks, unless working conditions are improved.
Belgian labour union CNE announced they would support the strikes planned to begin in June, their secretary, Didier Lebbe, told Belga News Agency.
The last major European-wide strike against Ryanair took place during Summer 2018. Then the aim was to enforce the company to apply local national laws to employment contracts, depending on where they operated. The unions came out victorious, in what was considered a “historic settlement”.
However, four years later “little has improved, and many of the issues raised in 2018 have still not been resolved,” according to the unions representing the cabin crews from Belgium, France, Portugal and Spain. They complain of the lack of "fair and transparent dialogue" with the airline’s headquarter.
The complaints mention pay slips that are unclear or contain errors, no access to drinking water for flight crews onboard the planes (unless they pay for it), and the absence of a local HR department, Belga News Agency reports.
"If there is no significant response from the company, we will not hesitate to launch a European action during the summer," the unions warn without yet giving a concrete timetable of the possible actions.
