The amount may be as much as $3,400.
Irish budget airline Ryanair is asking flight attendants in Spain to repay salary hikes. These attendants, belonging to the Union Sindical Obrera (USO), owe the airline up to €3,000 ($3,400). The airline claims that they received pay increases after a deal with another Spanish union, Comisiones Obreras (CCOO), and that the increase applied to flight crew in both unions. However, a court struck down the deal in March after USO filed a lawsuit and won. Now, Ryanair wants its money back.
One worker who has received notice from the airline was informed that this is an overpayment situation and that they owe nearly €2,000, which can be deducted from their salary over the course of a year. It is not known what happens if they don’t pay the company back. Members of CCOO have not been asked to repay hikes because the airline still has a deal with that union.
Ryanair is blaming USO because it filed the lawsuit that later voided the deal. “USO is now complaining about salary cuts resulting from the very court process it initiated,” the airline stated. It says it is complying with the court’s ruling. According to the union, it filed the lawsuit because those who negotiated the deal were not authorized to do so, and it advised all parties that it was irregular.
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The airline said it will inform the members how much they owe for increases between October and March.
Reuters also uncovered documents showing that Ryanair asked members of USO to pay back the money and revert their salaries to the levels before 2024 unless they agreed to switch to the other union, CCOO. One crew member, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he was asked to pay back €3,857 ($4,337) in April, but his earnings are based on the time he flies and are close to the minimum wage in Spain. His salary has also been cut back to correspond to the levels in 2024 before the deal was struck.
After the recent notices, USO has accused the airline of trying to push them out. A Ryanair spokesperson said, “This is a minority union that lacks the support of our crew. The majority of staff remain covered by our agreement with CCOO, which safeguards their salaries and conditions.”
USO represents 23% of Ryanair’s Spanish crew members, while CCOO represents nearly 40%.
Related: Ryanair Charged Passenger $62 for Carrying Water Bottle; Says It Counts as ‘Second Bag’
Passengers frequently complain about the bare-bones service of the airline, and Ryanair is also not a crowd favorite when it comes to unions. The low-budget airline has been feuding with USO for years. In 2022, the union accused the airline of intimidating its employees by threatening to dismiss them. At that time, negotiations between the two parties broke down, and flight attendants and staff took industrial action against the airline. Later that year, two unions—USO and SITCPLA—called for five months of industrial action from August 2022 to January 2023. They demanded the reinstatement of fired employees as well as better salaries. Ryanair left the negotiations with USO and struck a deal with CCOO.
The walkouts in 2022 also included Ryanair crew in Belgium and Portugal; the demands included better working conditions and pay raises.
The legal troubles for the airline have also seen other twists and turns. Last November, Spain’s consumer rights ministry fined the airline €108 million for abusive practices, such as charging extra for hand luggage and seat reservations. The budget airline cut flights to Spain’s regional airports amidst high aviation taxes and warned of more cuts in April.
