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‘A step towards improved conditions’: Ryanair strikes deal with German cabin crew union

Ryanair has forged a preliminary labour agreement with German cabin crews, the low cost airline said on Thursday, after strikes over employment contracts caused widespread disruption earlier this year.

Published: 8 November 2018 16:07 CET
'A step towards improved conditions': Ryanair strikes deal with German cabin crew union
Ryanair staff during a walkout at Frankfurt Airport on September 28th this year. Photo: DPA

The deal with union Verdi “will lead to pay improvements and other benefits for our German based cabin crew, subject to them voting in favour of this agreement over the coming week,” Ryanair head of personnel Eddie Wilson said in a statement.

The deal, which is now subject to a cabin crew ballot, does not cover pilot crew who are represented by cockpit union VC.

German cabin crew were among those who took part in a pan-Europe walkout in September — seeking higher wages and an end to the practice whereby staff work under mostly Irish contracts, not those of the country they reside in.

After crew staged strikes in Germany, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands,Portugal and Spain labour organisers claimed to have grounded more than 190 flights.

“After a year of negotiations, Verdi sees this agreement as a step towards improving the working conditions of employees and their wages,” said a Verdi spokeswoman.

SEE MORE: When are airline passengers in Germany entitled to flight compensation?

She indicated that the union still finds aspects of the Dublin-headquartered airline's position “problematic” but said that members' decision to accept or rebuff the agreement would be taken after 13 November.

On Thursday, Ryanair also announced Italian staff had voted 88 percent in favour of an agreement with the three main cabin crew unions in that country.

“These are further concrete signs of the substantial progress Ryanair is making in concluding agreements with our people and their unions in many different EU countries,” Wilson added in the statement.

This summer strikes by cockpit and cabin crew in Italy, as well as Belgium, Ireland, Portugal and Spain disrupted 600 scheduled flights and plunged 100,000 travellers into chaos.

In October Ryanair cut its annual profits forecast by 12 percent owing to the cancellations.

Ryanair lowered its estimate for annual profits after tax to €1.10-1.20 billion from a range of €1.25-1.35 billion euros
for the coming financial year concluding next March.

Strike action has also caused turbulence among high-level staff at the firm.

During the company's annual general meeting in September governance was called into question by shareholders.

Ryanair recognised cabin crew unions for the first time in June.

The move was taken after the firm was forced to cancel 20,000 flights between September 2017 and March 2018 owing to pilot shortages and pay concerns.

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TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

Published: 26 March 2024 09:55 CET
German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of €420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of €2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some €200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of €2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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