Ryanair tells shocked cabin crew they have to pay back thousands from salary rise
Ryanair have been accused of engaging in ‘union-based discrimination’
Ryanair is demanding some of its Spanish cabin crew repay thousands of pounds in pay rises following a legal dispute with a union.
The airline had initially agreed to the increase with the CCOO union last year, but a challenge from a rival union has led to a court overturning the deal.
The Union Sindical Obrera (USO) contested the agreement in January, arguing it was not legally sound.
A Spanish High Court judge subsequently ruled in favour of the USO, declaring the pay deal invalid. As a result, Ryanair is now demanding USO members return five months' worth of increased salary. The move has sparked anger and uncertainty among affected staff.
In a letter seen by the PA news agency, Ryanair told workers 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 said.
“We are willing to offer a repayment plan of 12 months with the deductions starting in the payslip of June.”
Ryanair separately agreed a limited pay deal with members of the other union, CCOO, that exempts them from the pay clawbacks.
The USO said the pay rises that Ryanair is telling union members to return stretch as high as 3,000 euros (£2,525).
A USO spokesperson told PA 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 wrote: “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.”
USO members “will be contacted and informed of the amounts they owe as a consequence of your actions”, it said.
A Ryanair spokesperson said: “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.
“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.”