
Ryanair strike hits 55,000 customers across Europe - craigferg501
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/10/ryanair-pilot-strike-hits-thousands-of-flyers-in-europe.html
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SiempreViernes
It's depressing that someone can write 650 words about an strike and its
effects and fail to describe the actual grievances of the employees striking.

~~~
ojm
Agree. Now I have to do research to see who is being unreasonable. The
employees or the employer. Be much easier if the article gave a summary of the
issues.

~~~
lis
There are a few things mentioned in [0] and [1], unfortunately in german:

\- The contracts are based on Irish law and contain rules that violate German
employment laws.

\- They have to pay for water on the flight, in addition to lots of other
things (e.g. health checks, mandatory simulator hours). These costs can
sometimes be deducted, but they argue the airline should pay for it in the
first place.

\- When they are sick, they have to come to the office/airport and state their
symptoms in writing.

\- Lots of Pilots are hired as contractors, not as full time employees. That
would also violate German employment laws.

[0] [https://www.zeit.de/wirtschaft/2018-07/streik-
flugbegleiter-...](https://www.zeit.de/wirtschaft/2018-07/streik-
flugbegleiter-ryanair-flugreisen-sommerferien#warum-wird-bei-ryanair-auf-
einmal-so-viel-gestreikt)

[1] [https://www.zeit.de/wirtschaft/2018-01/pilotenstreik-
ryanair...](https://www.zeit.de/wirtschaft/2018-01/pilotenstreik-ryanair-
gewerkschaft-cockpit-tarifverhandlungen)

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philbarr
I would be surprised if Ryanair could keep going. Anecdotally, I know a number
of people that will never use them again - either because they themselves have
had problems or they know people that have. There's some real animosity
growing towards them.

All things being equal, people would usually pick the cheapest flight. But
Ryanair are now making it abundantly clear that their flights are not equal to
others. When you pick a flight you need confidence that your flight will take
off, and that you can get home. It amazes me that Ryanair are willing to lose
people's confidence like this, it will take a long time to get it back, if at
all.

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SmellyGeekBoy
If their whole business model is built around breaking EU labour laws and
underpaying staff then good riddance.

~~~
jimmy1
This is like the premise for almost every massive corporation. At some point
and time they bend and twisted the laws far enough, but not too far to get
shut down to gain a competitive advantage. Banks are the best example --
always a game of cat and mouse with regulators. Every corporation tries to
figure out how to pay the least amount of taxes possible, and pay their
workers the least amount possible to get the job done.

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vinceguidry
Ryanair seems to be skirting a very very thin line by steamrolling over labor
disputes in the EU. I'd be very curious to know just who in that company is
persuading executive leadership that these disputes don't represent an
existential threat to the company and what their rationale is. Because is is
the sort of thing that will bring the regulatory hammer down on them if
they're not careful, and they don't seem to be being very careful.

Or worse, if anyone up there even cares to save the business. It could well be
in the final stages of executive loot and plunder and we're just looking at
the final stages where nobody even bothers to pretend they're interested in
saving the business.

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richeyryan
The CEO of Ryanair, Michael O'Leary, is vehemently opposed to unions and
workers rights. I imagine this is as much a personal vendetta for him as it is
an exercise to maintain low costs which of course is Ryanair's whole business
model.

If they have to increase their spending on workers as a result of this action,
it is more likely to be an existential threat to the company rather than any
regulatory or customer reaction.

~~~
gnu8
He's only opposed to unions and worker rights because they would affect the
profits of his company, and by extension, how much money he makes personally.
If Ryanair's business model is only sustainable by exploiting workers, then it
is good that the company collapses because it's nothing more than a hack to
transfer wealth from the workers and passengers to the CEO and shareholders.

Funny how these people only scream about redistribution when it's from the
rich to the poor, and not the other way around.

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barking
30 years ago the only choices to fly Dublin to London were BA and Aer Lingus.
Both charged identical fares and the cheapest fare was £150, ie well over £400
today. That rip-off was ended by Ryanair.

I'm not crazy about them but i like having them around.

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narens
I have always picked Ryan air when I was in Europe as it was cheap despite
being not available in many airports. The experience was not the nicest but to
fly for 1 or 2 hours it seemed more than enough with just a single carry on.
Hope the airline stays afloat and honors the labor laws while providing cheap
air travel.

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krn
In fact, Ryanair flies to more airports in Europe than any other airline in
the world[1], but skips some of the busiest ones because of their higher fees.
It is rivaled by Easyjet in Western Europe, by Wizzair in Eastern Europe, and
by Norwegian in Northern Europe. Most European low-cost fliers quickly learn
the new tricks of each airline and couldn't care less about the customer
service, as long as they can get them from A to B for the lowest price in the
shortest possible time.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airlines_with_more_tha...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airlines_with_more_than_100_destinations)

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friendly_chap
My flight just got cancelled by Wizzair due to "weather problems" officially
but I hear lot of rumors that something is brewing over there too.

This is the first time I experience a cancelled flight. It is absolutely
disastrous. I could not make it to my holiday since they provided 0
communication and the next flight was in 5 days...

This will surely affect there bottom line. Right now I'm considering buying a
car and driving 20 hours when I want to get home instead of taking a plane.

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docdeek
I’ve had flights cancelled in the EU before (Alitalia, Air France) and the
rights for passengers are pretty clear and consumer friendly. See:
[https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-
right...](https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-
rights/air/index_en.htm)

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flavmartins
PBS did a piece, Frontline IIRC, about regional airlines and airlines like
Ryan were discussed.

They essentially underpay employees by A LOT compared with the major airlines.
It's how they keep their prices low. Pay little, charge for everything, but
discount the price of the regular ticket by a lot.

And WHY would you take that job? Because it gets your foot into the door in
the industry.

As a pilot, for you to become a captain (and earn more money), you have to
complete certain thousands of hours of flight. And so you want to do that as
quickly as possible. Regional airlines are a much easier to be hired into and
you can get your routes on a very regular basis to make up all of your hours.
Then, when you've completed your hours, you then apply to work for a larger
airline with better pay and benefits.

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mabbo
But if the Ryanair employees are on strike who will try to sell me lottery
tickets three times during my 2 hour flight?

