Fair’s fair, Ryanair, let your workers speak

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31 August 2004

The International Transport Workers Federation today launched a new initiative to protect the rights of workers at Ryanair. In what it called a “new kind of campaigning” the ITF has set up www.ryan-be-fair.org, a website that will give Ryanair staff the freedom to discuss their work, conditions and any problems they have.

The ITF, along with its European regional arm the ETF, acted after being told by some of the Ryanair workers that they were afraid that they might jeopardise their jobs if they were seen to be trying to assert their rights. Ryanair founder Michael O’Leary is famously hostile to unions – the company refuses to recognise a trade union for its staff.

www.ryan-be-fair.org is open to Ryanair workers and the public, who can sign an appeal for fairness online*. Employees at the airline can discuss issues with their colleagues free from unwanted oversight, can request updates and can be put in touch with trade unions in their home countries.

Earlier this year the Sunday Times reported that when pilots attempted to break Ryanair’s long-standing ban on trade unions O’Leary resisted these moves and suggested anyone who wasn’t happy was “free to go elsewhere. Godspeed to them”.

ITF General Secretary David Cockroft commented: “We’ve been told that people are afraid to speak in some Ryanair workplaces. As far as we’re concerned, that stops now.”

He continued: “If Michael O’Leary won’t allow a forum where Ryanair workers can freely make up their own minds, then the ITF will – even if their decision is to tell us to get lost. I’m sure that one of the first visitors to the site will be Mr O’Leary, closely followed by his lawyers. He’s welcome to look. We have nothing to hide except the names of the Ryanair staff who want to enjoy the right to free speech.”

He concluded: “This is a new campaign tool for an old problem. For as long as there’s been trade unions there’s been employers who try to bully workers away from them. We’re here to find ways to prevent this. Ryanair claims it’s not anti-union, it’s pro-employee. Good. We’re happy to help them prove it.”

The ITF has produced a card for staff and Ryanair passengers with the website’s address on it. It is the size of a business card, so that Ryanair workers can discreetly pass it on to each other.

Doro Zinke, General Secretary of the ETF (European Transport Workers’ Federation), added:

“Ryanair refuses to negotiate the pay and conditions of its workers with any union. It is time that Ryanair recognised trade unions, in accordance with international and European labour standards.

In November 2003 the ETF demonstrated against Ryanair at the Labour Court at Charleroi in Belgium, when Belgian cabin crew took the company to court to assert their right to work under Belgian rather than Irish law.

*The appeal to fairness calls on the company to establish rights such as: ‘ Employees shall have the right to join, or not to join, a trade union of their choice free from coercion and victimisation’ and ‘No employee shall be fired, harassed, intimidated, disciplined or subjected to surveillance in relation to any union activity or union position held.’ See www.ryan-be-fair.org/appeal.htm for the complete document. The website goes live on 31 August and is officially open to the public from 1 September.

The ITF is a global federation representing 604 affiliated transport unions in 137 countries. Among these are unions representing members working throughout the civil aviation sector: pilots, cabin crews, flight engineers, flight dispatchers, ground staff, air traffic controllers and mechanics.

Further information

Ingo Marowsky, Secretary of the ITF’s Civil Aviation Section, is available to give briefings by telephone or in person at the ITF’s headquarters in London all day on August 27. Please call + 44 (0)20 7940 9248 (mobile 0777 01310326) or e-mail marowsky_ingo@itf.org.uk if you have any questions about www.ryan-be-fair.com.

In Brussels Francois Ballestero, ETF Civil Aviation Secretary, is available for briefings or inquiries. Please call +32 (2) 285 4660, e-mail f.ballestero@etf-europe.org

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