The Labor Inspectorate considers that the Irish airline Ryanair has violated the right to strike of its cabin crew. The USO union began a round of strikes in the summer among the collective to demand better wages. Although the strike call is still in effect, the protest had a limited impact on the airline's operations and has been losing steam over time.
However, the union denounced that Ryanair was violating its right to strike and now an Inspection report released this Wednesday points in that direction. According to the document, to which La Vanguardia has had access, it indicates that the airline replaced striking workers to be able to operate a greater number of flights, a practice considered illegal. In this sense, it reports "serious" and "very serious" infractions at the company's bases in Barcelona and Girona. For the USO union and the Ryanair Crew Association, this would agree with the workers. In this sense, they hope that the almost "40 redundancies of crew members carried out by Ryanair to support the strike" will become null and void.
"The Labor Inspectorate has confirmed what USO already denounced in the first days of the strike: it lacks information on the flights scheduled as minimum services; Ryanair's abuse of the appointment of guards to a greater number of workers than usual; the reinforcement of crews with others brought from other EU member states and from third states to operate flights not protected by minimum services or the modification of minimum services", USO pointed out.
According to the union, in addition to the offenses observed in Catalonia, they have been detected in the Balearic Islands, Alicante, Malaga and Madrid. In the case of serious infractions, the sanctions can range between 3,700 and 7,500 euros. Regarding the very serious, they could be between 120,000 and 225,000 euros.
The report indicates that Barcelona is the only point where it has been verified that the company brought workers from other countries to operate on flights affected by the strike and located outside the minimum services. "It can be concluded that, in the case at hand, there has been a violation of the right to strike through "external scabbing", adds the report. With regard to Girona, an "abuse" has been detected by designating, during the strike period to a number of workers on duty that is greater than usual.
