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EUROPEAN REVIEW

ISSUE 26 - Page 2

Ryanair rapped by courts and unions

THE LOW COST AIRLINE RYANAIR has a history of conflict with trade unions but now it is in hot water with the courts as well. In December French courts upheld a decision which took away subsidies which the company was payed by local authorities in Strasbourg towards the costs of its service to London. By January the legal argument moved to the UK where cerebral palsy and arthritis sufferer Bob Ross sued the airline over an £18 charge for providing him with a wheelchair. After his victory the Chair of the Disability Rights Commission commented 'It beggars belief that a company with £165 million profits last year, should quibble over meeting the cost of providing disabled people with a wheelchair'.

In February the Ryanair route to Charleroi near Brussels came under the microscope when the European Commission ruled that the company must repay €4 million in discounts granted by the regional government. It has responded by cutting flights and warning of ticket price rises. Irish unions have long been familiar with both the company's general penny-pinching attitude and its failure to recognise worker representation. In 1998 a struggle		over recognition in Ireland was lost while two years ago the biggest Irish union, SIPTU, reported charges of £50 for pilot job applications and £450 for staff to pay for their own uniforms. Last November disputes with unions moved to the continent when protesters from Belgium, Spain, Italy and France picketed the Charleroi labour court in defence of three workers who had been summarily sacked without reference to Belgian law.
	Demonstrators outside the Labour Court in Belgium

The European Transport Workers Federation stated 'Ryanair, which flies in 14 European countries does not recognise any worker organisation...The workers are afraid to be unionised because they would lose their jobs. These workers have Irish contracts and have no possibility to be defended in the country where they routinely perform their work'.

Perhaps the creation of 'uniform rules on competition between carriers, and for the maximum benefit of consumers' as the Commission characterised their ruling, will eventually lead to equal adherence to social and trade union norms by all 'players in the same arena'.

Bargaining round-up

GERMAN COMPANY PENSION schemes cover 43% of the work force and this figure is increasing. Car manufacturers Opel have followed this trend by re-introducing their pension plan which was closed to new employees in 1997. In negotiations with the works council they have stressed that recruitment and retention problems would be eased if benefits were available. However Commerzbank is travelling in the opposite direction having given notice that it will stop making contributions for existing staff and exclude new staff from their pension scheme from the end of the year.

IN ITALY THE ISSUE of pensions brought down the last Berlusconi government in 1994. Now the present one is trying to balance the books and extend working life by demanding 40 years of state pension contributions rather than 35. The unions, particularly the CGIL confederation, half of whose members are retired, are resisting. Because of its previous experience the administration is unwilling to push things too far.

SPANISH COMPANIES are still offering early retirement schemes which seem to fly in the face of EU efforts to promote longer working lives.The La Caixa bank will offer 57 year olds 80% of their salary in pension payments if they retire. The aim is to take on unemployed people in their place

These facts come from IDS Employment Europe - February issue.

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