The Social Court number 2 of Santiago de Compostela has sentenced the Ryanair airline to reinstate a cabin crew member fired during the collective strike in 2022. The sentence, which was made public this Monday by the USO union -convener of said stoppages- considers it proven that the Irish low cost company violated the right to strike of the worker, based at the Santiago de Compostela airport. The ruling thus orders the annulment of the dismissal, the reinstatement of the worker and the payment of back wages since then, as well as compensation for damages.
The affected, according to the judge, refused to accept flight changes in the minimum services assigned in several days of strike, after which she ended up being fired. This is the first conviction for Ryanair for this reason. USO denounces that more than 40 workers from the different bases in which Ryanair operates in Spain "were fired for exercising their right to strike."
The union and Ryanair maintained a tough confrontation for months in 2022. In June of that year, USO called several days of strikes among cabin crew to demand better wages, a protest that lasted until January 7. The strikes ended without any agreement. Then, the union described as "impossible" to continue with the protest because the company was "boycotting" it. The Labor Inspectorate issued a report at the end of November of last year in which it considered that Ryanair had violated the right to strike and proposed sanctions .
Now, this Santiago court justifies its decision by arguing that “what is generally prohibited is the activity of the employer tending to nullify the consequences of the strike, not only the complete substitution of all the functions that the striking worker had to carry out. That is the essential core of the right to strike, therefore, we understand any measure that the employer decides to that effect to be contrary to the right to strike”. He continues arguing that the conduct of the company "represents a transgression of the constitutional right to strike, for which reason it is appropriate to declare the nullity of the dismissal for violating it."
This ruling is also based on the infringement report issued by the Labor Inspectorate, which penalized Ryanair for violating the right to strike, by making changes to minimal services during the crew's rest time and supplanting workers on strike from other bases. Spanish and foreign, among other reasons.
From USO-Sector Aéreo and the Ryanair Crew Association (ATR) value this first sentence, of the more than 45 dismissal lawsuits filed by USO-ATR, "the first to be condemnatory and agree with the workers".
