More than 70 "social" cases are currently open against the Irish airline Ryanair in Belgium, Le Soir reports. Europe's biggest airline is said to owe more than €5 million in social security payments and some 1,014 workers have been illegally posted.
Responding to a parliamentary question from MP Cécile Cornet (Ecolo), Labour Minister Pierre-Yves Dermagne (PS) and Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open Vld) looked into the issue and found that 73 cases have been opened against Ryanair, including 36 in the last two years.
"All these cases are now in the hands of the courts", explained Minister Dermagne, who also confirmed that the low-cost airline could not unilaterally break the collective agreement governing pilots' working conditions, particularly their rest periods (one of the reasons for the strikes by pilots based in Belgium in recent months) and that negotiations were necessary.
Low-cost tickets, low-cost staff
In addition, it appears that the self-employed status of some of the company's pilots who brought a complaint against their employer before the Belgian courts was not justified or regulated. Minister of Justice Vincent Van Quickenborne explained that national employment agencies are now calculating how much is owed to workers who should have been paid as salaried staff.
The resistance from Ryanair to properly employ staff could mean that the company owes more than €5 million in regularisation contributions. The total cost of the evaded social security contributions is not yet clear.
Other grievances against the company include delays and errors in responding to staff. Ryanair's managers were summoned to appear before the Hainaut labour auditorate last May. They did not acknowledge the shortcomings and said they wished to explain themselves before a judge.
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Long known for a confrontational attitude towards Belgian legislation, management of the low-cost airline has proved itself dismissive of the concerns of staff and has been intransigeant in prolonged labour disputes. Whilst unions have highlighted billion-euro profits for the company, Ryanair has simultaneously undermined employee protections.
Time and again, company CEO Michael O'Leary has shown indifference to staff calls to reason, instead threatening to pull out of Belgium entirely if unions and the government don't bend to his wishes.
