The budget airline told some flight attendants in Spain that they must return the five months’ worth of salary increases after a judge ruled the pay deal was invalid
Ryanair has instructed some of its Spanish cabin crew to return pay increases amounting to thousands of pounds amidst a legal dispute with a union.
The airline had previously agreed to a pay rise with Spain’s CCOO union last year. However, another union, the Union Sindical Obrera (USO), challenged the agreement in January, leading to a judge in Spain’s High Court ruling that the pay deal was invalid.
As a result, Ryanair has now informed USO union members that they must repay five months’ worth of salary increases. In a letter obtained by PA news agency, Ryanair informed employees that the court ruling “created an overpayment situation”.
“You were paid higher salaries in the period from October 24 to March 25 that have now been declared null and void,” it stated. “We are willing to offer a repayment plan of 12 months with the deductions starting in the payslip of June.”
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Separately, Ryanair agreed a limited pay deal with members of the other union, CCOO, which exempts them from the pay clawback. The USO revealed that the pay rises Ryanair is demanding union members to return could be as much as 3,000 euros (£2,525).
A spokesperson for USO said that Ryanair is engaging in “union-based discrimination”. They added that Ryanair also “encouraged (with constant emails and multiple deadline changes to do it) to sign up with CCOO to avoid the penalties”.
In a separate letter sent by Ryanair to the union, it described attempts to contest the repayments as “farcical”. The airline penned a stern response: “If you wish to pursue legal action against us for complying with the outcome of the court case that you won, that is entirely a matter for you.”
It went on to state that USO members “will be contacted and informed of the amounts they owe as a consequence of your actions”.
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A representative from Ryanair weighed in, saying: “USO are complaining about pay cuts that result from their court case. Ryanair is complying with the court case that USO took to cut pay while it is under appeal.”
The spokesperson also highlighted the union’s limited influence: “USO are a tiny minority union with no support from our crew, the vast majority of whom have their pay and conditions protected by an agreement with CCOO.”
