Ryanair accused by USO union of allegedly sending ‘intimidating’ letters to employees in Spain

Ryanair has been accused by the USO union representing cabin crew workers in Spain of sending ‘intimidating’ letters to all its employees, threatening them with possible dismissal.

According to USO, one of the two unions involved in convening the Ryanair cabin crew (TCP) strikes in Spain, the Irish airline has allegedly notified all of its employees by mail that they face dismissal. The latest round of industrial action is scheduled to start again this coming Monday, August 8.

This threat of dismissal apparently relates to staff who have had at least four sick leaves from work due to illness in a year.

Called by the USO and Sitcpla unions, the strikes are planned to take place weekly, from Monday to Thursday, until January 7, included, at all of Ryanair’s Spanish bases. This has occurred as the result of ongoing talks completely breaking down said the unions. They have accused Ryanair of not wanting to sit down and negotiate a deal for its Spanish workforce.

USO claims that Ryanair has threatened to dismiss workers before the start of the new strike on Monday 8. Lidia Arasanz, the general secretary of USO-Ryanair, indicated that in their communication, the airline allegedly considered taking time off with illness as “cause for dismissal”.

She added that in the letters that the company has sent to these workers they speak of “supervising absences”, and hoping to see “an immediate and significant improvement in attendance at work”.

“In these weeks, Ryanair has fired 11 workers for going on strike, when they had not been legally summoned to perform minimum services. We have held more than 100 disciplinary meetings for the same reasons”, added the union official.

“USO is advising all workers to respond to those letters, but again we feel that there is no intention on the part of the highest labour authorities in the country, led by the Ministry of Labour, to put a stop to the abuses of Ryanair. For our part, we are already expanding the complaints”, concluded the general secretary of USO-Ryanair.

The Spanish Ministry of Transport has already taken immediate action to combat the strikes, stipulating that minimum services will be established to protect flights.

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