He accuses the French-speaking Christian unions CNE and Flemish ACV Puls of not responding to the company’s proposals and of favoring a work stoppage. Last Friday, unions announced a strike by Ryanair cabin crew members working at Zaventem and Charleroi airports on 22, 23 and 24 April. They justify this action by the failure of negotiations around a new collective agreement on wages and bonuses for cabin crew. A third of Ryanair’s flights scheduled for Friday were canceled at Brussels Airport but, according to the company, more than 50% of the service should nevertheless be provided at Zaventem and Charleroi.
CEO Eddie Wilson says he tried everything to reach an agreement during the last mediation last Friday but received no response from the unions to the company’s proposals. “They told us that they wanted to teach us a lesson. Unfortunately, they will not teach Ryanair a lesson but the passengers,” he explains. “Last night we wrote to the unions to propose an intensive negotiation session. We have also been in contact with all our cabin crew in Belgium, and it is clear that they do not want to go on strike. Their priority it’s having a new collective labor agreement.”
Eddie Wilson claims to have presented several options to the workers’ representatives, in particular the temporary extension of the current agreement. This strike will not, however, make it possible to advance the negotiations, he adds. “It’s not like we’ve reached a breaking point. While we’re only recovering from the Covid crisis, going on strike when negotiations aren’t exhausted is totally irresponsible. It just makes Belgium less attractive to Ryanair in terms of investment.”
The CEO proposes to initiate a new intensive period of negotiations to reach a proposal for an agreement within 15 days and to call on a mediator in order to avoid a strike.
The carrier employs around 650 people in Belgium but does not have an HR department there, denounced the CNE last week. “Ryanair acknowledges that it is subject to Belgian law but refuses to invest in a personnel policy. Salary slips are wrong, salaries are not paid correctly, social documents are not in order, etc. This creates a permanent source of problems for staff in Belgium”, lamented Didier Lebbe, permanent secretary of the Christian union.