Unions representing Ryanair cabin crews based in six European countries met in Lisbon on Tuesday to decide on joint protest actions."It is in the hands of Ryanair" if it wants to avoid a European strike that is increasingly on the cards and planned for the bust summer period.
Lucinda Passo, the president of Portugal’s National Union of Civil Aviation Flight Personnel (SNPVAC), acted as the spokeswoman for the six national unions.
"The problems are the same, the actions have to be the same," she told reporters at the end of the meeting.
"The problems are the same, the actions have to be the same," she told reporters at the end of the meeting.
Union representatives from Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Germany met with their Portuguese counterparts to discuss the low-cost labour policy adopted by Ryanair which insists its cabin crew members have Irish work contracts, thus enabling the company to avoid local labour rules and practices.
The behaviour adopted by Ryanair during the cabin crew strike in Portugal over the Easter weekend, put the unions on red alert.
Complaints about illegalities committed by the company, in particular by putting pressure on workers from other countries to replace Portuguese strikers, provided an opportunity for the European unions to work together.
The union leaders from the six European countries have a strategy that starts with an offer to sit at the negotiating table with Ryaniar’s management.
If these negotiations do not work, Ryanair cabin crew members legally are empowered to hold simultaneous strikes in each of the countries represented.
If these negotiations do not work, Ryanair cabin crew members legally are empowered to hold simultaneous strikes in each of the countries represented.
Passo said the agenda includes "mandatory national legislation" and the same working conditions for company employees based in different countries.
"Another area for discussion is that Ryanair should not place restrictions on the holding of workers’ meetings," said the Portuguese union leader.
The Executive Chairman of Ryanair, Michael O" Leary, insists on the legality of the company’s actions during the Easter strike and claims that Portuguese workers prefer to continue with contracts under Irish law as they earn more and have more days of maternity leave.
"The crew are very well paid, they earn between €30,000 and €40,000 a year, which is more than nurses or teachers in Portugal and we are very grateful that few supported the strike over the Easter weekend, and that was why that the strike was so unsuccessful and we cancelled less than 10% of our flights," claims the irascible Irishman.
