Ryanair faces possible ‘Europe-wide’ industrial strife

Ryanair faces strike threats in several countries after pay talks with two of its Spanish cabin crew unions failed. Spanish unions SITCPLA and USO say they are co-ordinating with organisations in Belgium, France, Italy and Portugal on possible “Europe-wide” industrial action in an impasse over demands for higher pay.

Ryanair and the cabin crew unions had been in mediation hosted by Spanish state labour relations agency Sima over pay demands. According to a letter to the unions from Ryanair people director Darrell Hughes, the airline ended mediation after reading media reports that the labour organisations intended calling strikes this summer.

“The proposals sent by USO & SITCPLA have been completely unrealistic including up to 167 per cent pay increases, at a time when the Covid recovery is still fragile and the company is still announcing significant losses,” Mr Hughes says.

He accuses the unions of littering their strike announcement with “false claims about non-compliance with national law” and a lack of HR resources, which he maintains is not an issue in Spain.

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The unions told news agency Bloomberg on Wednesday that the deadlock left them with no choice but to call for a walkout. “We’re co-ordinating our actions with European counterparts,” they added.

Ryanair last month struck an agreement with one of Spain’s biggest unions, FSC-CCOO, which also represents cabin crew, governing post-Covid pay restoration and increases, fixed pay, schedules and other conditions. It already has a deal with Spanish pilots’ union Sepla.

However, according to Mr Hughes’s letter, it has been in talks with USO and SIPTCLA for three years. He blames the unions’ unrealistic demands and failure to meaningfully engage with negotiation, and the compromises needed to reach agreement for the lack of progress over that time. The sides entered mediation in October last year.

Their strike threat comes as airlines prepare for their busiest months against a background of labour shortages and bottlenecks that have disrupted flying across Europe. On Wednesday, Hungary-based Wizz Air warned that these problems would leave it with a loss for the three months to June 30th.

Last month Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said that the airline had agreed pay restoration deals with unions covering about 40 per cent of its market, while talks were progressing across most of the rest of its network.

The airline points out that it kept workers on during the pandemic but cut pay by 20 per cent. It has agreed to restore 10 per cent in the current financial year, which ends on March 31st.

According to Mr O’Leary, Ryanair will restore 6 per cent over the succeeding 12 months and the final 4 per cent in its 2025 financial year. However, if Ryanair’s profit tops €1 billion this year it will restore the second 10 per cent over the 12 months to March 31st, 2024, its chief executive said.

The airline says air travel’s recovery is too uncertain to allow it give any guidance on profit for this financial year.

Ryanair did not comment on the strike threat on Wednesday. – Additional reporting: Bloomberg