“Ryanair cabin crew members in Prague fired after unionising”, 05 June 2020

Cabin crew union B.United was recently registered in the Czech Republic, representing direct Ryanair employees and agency workers. Only a day after they notified the company of the existence of the new union and requested a meeting to discuss working conditions, three union leaders were fired. They shared their story with us, taking us through their experience of working for the company, shining a light on Ryanair’s anti-union practices.

… [I]n September 2019 … we started to hear rumours about a change in management … it wasn’t Ryanair … that we worked for, but Buzz, its sister company … We were given a week to decide whether we wanted to sign a new contract or move to a different base…

The lack of clarity is a constant issue with working for Ryanair … when working, things change: it often doesn’t correspond to our records.

 We tried to speak to management to discuss some of the main issues but never got very far with them…

This is the time when the decision to organise a union really crystallised for us…

…The company has created a patchwork of different employment statuses … meaning that workers have different pay, different entitlements, and different interests. … The company is also successful at creating a stressful environment … and you always feel under threat … people are scared of retaliation from the company.

With the help of OSD, we will oppose these, in our opinion, unlawful actions … we are ready to fight for our rights and ensure that Ryanair is held accountable for their anti-union and anti-worker actions.