Ryanair Orders Flight Attendants To Return Salary Hike They Received

Ryanair has ordered flight attendants in Spain to return a salary increase of up to Rs 2.8 lakh ($3,400)  they were given before a legal ruling made the payments void. The Irish airline company had agreed to the pay hike with the Spanish union, CCOO, last year, but a local court ruled in March that the agreement was not valid, after rival union, USO, contested it.

Subsequently, in April, Ryanair sent an email to its cabin crew members unionised with USO, ordering them to reimburse the money earned via the pay hike. The company also threatened to lower the salaries to the pre-hike levels unless they switched to CCOO, according to a report in the BBC.

The affected flight attendants have been told that the “money will be simply deducted from the payslip until the debt is paid”.

As per USO, they objected to the original agreement as those negotiating at the table were not authorised to do so for its members and “legally could not sign that kind of agreement”.

“They also encouraged (with constant emails and multiple deadline changes to do it) to sign up with CCOO to avoid the penalties,” spokesperson for USO Ester Peyro Galdran said.

Meanwhile, a Ryanair spokesperson said that it is “complying with the court case that USO took to cut pay while it is under appeal.”

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In recent years, Ryanair and other low-cost airlines have managed to gain a foothold in the market share by charging dirt-cheap prices to passengers, achieved through bare-bone service and salaries much lower than legacy airlines used to pay.

Ryanair has gained notoriety, especially on social media for its edgy marketing campaign where frugality is the buzzword. Despite the online popularity, Ryanair workers across Europe have gone on strike multiple times over the past years, demanding higher pay and better working conditions.