The
secretary for civil aviation of global union federation the ITF
(International Transport Workers’ Federation) has backed criticism
by an easyJet official of Ryanair’s treatment of its staff.
In an interview with Europa Press*, Javier Gándara, CEO of easyJet in Spain and Portugal, is reported as contrasting EasyJet’s commitment to its staff (as part of which it has relocated 90 per cent of its workers affected by the closure of its base at Madrid-Barajas Airport) with Ryanair’s, and stating that carriers should act in accordance with the labour laws of the countries in which they operate.
ITF civil avation secretary Gabriel Mocho commented: “In our view, Ryanair is achieving a commercial advantage at the expense of its own staff.
“Javier Gándara is right – Ryanair is well known for insisting that its personnel worldwide operate under Irish rules and so have no recourse under the laws of the countries in which they actually live and work.”
He continued: “That wilful blindness to reality is being regularly challenged by the trade unions that many Ryanair staff choose, and which Michael O’Leary wants to deny them.”
Those challenges include an ongoing complaint made to the International Labour Organization (ILO) by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), the Irish Municipal, Public and Civil Trade Union (IMPACT), and the Irish Airline Pilots Association (IALPA) against the Republic of Ireland for breach of ILO Convention 98 .
This complaint alleges that the conduct of Ryanair exposes a number of failures in Irish law to protect the rights of workers and trade unions for which the Irish government is responsible as a member of the ILO. In particular that Irish law fails to sufficiently guarantee the minimum standards as prescribed by ILO Convention 98, which Ireland ratified as long ago as 1955.
Protection of workers from acts of anti-union discrimination (Article 1);
Protection of workers’ organisations from acts of interference by employers (Article 2); and
Promotion of the principle of voluntary collective bargaining (Article 4).
Additionally, in a submission to the Universal Periodic Review Working Group of the United Nations, the ICTU has also complained that:
“Ireland is a champion of human rights abroad yet fails to adequately promote and protect human rights at home. Trade union rights are fundamental human rights but the trade union-human rights of all ‘workers’ is not properly respected. On foot of a problematic interpretation of Freedom of Association by the Irish Supreme Court in Ryanair, anti trade union activity, once the preserve of a few anti-union companies is now becoming widespread, jeopardising the basic human right of workers to organise in trade unions for the protection of their interests.”
In an interview with Europa Press*, Javier Gándara, CEO of easyJet in Spain and Portugal, is reported as contrasting EasyJet’s commitment to its staff (as part of which it has relocated 90 per cent of its workers affected by the closure of its base at Madrid-Barajas Airport) with Ryanair’s, and stating that carriers should act in accordance with the labour laws of the countries in which they operate.
ITF civil avation secretary Gabriel Mocho commented: “In our view, Ryanair is achieving a commercial advantage at the expense of its own staff.
“Javier Gándara is right – Ryanair is well known for insisting that its personnel worldwide operate under Irish rules and so have no recourse under the laws of the countries in which they actually live and work.”
He continued: “That wilful blindness to reality is being regularly challenged by the trade unions that many Ryanair staff choose, and which Michael O’Leary wants to deny them.”
Those challenges include an ongoing complaint made to the International Labour Organization (ILO) by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), the Irish Municipal, Public and Civil Trade Union (IMPACT), and the Irish Airline Pilots Association (IALPA) against the Republic of Ireland for breach of ILO Convention 98 .
This complaint alleges that the conduct of Ryanair exposes a number of failures in Irish law to protect the rights of workers and trade unions for which the Irish government is responsible as a member of the ILO. In particular that Irish law fails to sufficiently guarantee the minimum standards as prescribed by ILO Convention 98, which Ireland ratified as long ago as 1955.
Protection of workers from acts of anti-union discrimination (Article 1);
Protection of workers’ organisations from acts of interference by employers (Article 2); and
Promotion of the principle of voluntary collective bargaining (Article 4).
Additionally, in a submission to the Universal Periodic Review Working Group of the United Nations, the ICTU has also complained that:
“Ireland is a champion of human rights abroad yet fails to adequately promote and protect human rights at home. Trade union rights are fundamental human rights but the trade union-human rights of all ‘workers’ is not properly respected. On foot of a problematic interpretation of Freedom of Association by the Irish Supreme Court in Ryanair, anti trade union activity, once the preserve of a few anti-union companies is now becoming widespread, jeopardising the basic human right of workers to organise in trade unions for the protection of their interests.”
Source:
ITF
