Low-cost carrier Ryanair and the Federación de Servicios a la Ciudadanía (Federation of Citizen Services) of the Confederación Sindical de Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) in Spain signed a new collective bargaining agreement with the aim of improving wages and working conditions for cabin crew based in the country.
In a press release, the union highlighted a series of measures agreed with the company to improve the situation of employees. Among them, the wage increase for junior cabin crew members and regular annual increases until April 2025.
In addition, it highlighted the increase in the guaranteed fixed salary compared to the variable salary. A new pay structure with pay progression based on years of service was also agreed.
Finally, Ryanair cabin crew in Spain will have a fixed schedule of five working days followed by three rest days. Both the company and the union committed to negotiate a full collective agreement by October 2023.
“We are pleased to announce this new collective agreement for our Spanish cabin crew with CCOO, the largest and most representative union in the country,” commented Darrell Hughes, Ryanair’s Chief People Officer. He also said the company is “very proud of the hard work and exceptional service they provide every day in Spain” and “pleased to be able to work with CCOO to deliver these significant improvements to cabin crew pay and conditions that will provide stability and continued improvements over the next three years”.
“We are very pleased to make a new agreement with the airline available, as it substantially improves both the economic and social conditions of this collective in Spain”, said Jon Herrera González, Secretary General of the union’s Air and Tourism Services area. “We consider that the rapprochement between CCOO and Ryanair is a great step forward thanks to which we will be able to achieve a future collective agreement in which all the necessary measures to achieve stability in working conditions will be put into effect”, he concluded.
A summer marked by strikes
During the last summer season, unions representing Ryanair workers staged protest action days in different countries. In June, cabin crew members went on strike in Spain, Belgium, France, Italy and Portugal.
The call for the resumption of collective bargaining negotiations for the Spanish-based employes was a constant during those weeks. Some unions even spoke out against an agreement that the CCOO had reached with Ryanair, which they claimed legitimised “precarious working conditions”.
While the Irish airline is used to complaints of this kind, the situation is exacerbated by the current conditions in the airline labour market. Rapid growth since the lifting of the vast majority of movement restrictions imposed during the pandemic has, in many cases, found workforces depleted. This was caused by the redundancies and voluntary redundancies that many companies implemented as measures to cope with the crisis. There is now a shortage of staff, both on the ground and in the air, to meet the growing demand.
See also: Ryanair launches winter schedules in Lanzarote and Seville
