Ryanair cabin crew across Europe are threatening to go on strike over the Summer holidays because the Dublin-based airline allegedly makes them work without access to water.
Unlike the vast majority of European airlines, Ryanair does not provide bottled water specifically for cabin crew and pilots. The policy supports Ryanair’s infamously frugal approach to operations but it stands in contrast to other low-cost carriers.
Operators including easyJet and Vueling provide cabin crew with bottled water because security rules introduced after 9/11 meant aircrew had to dump bottled drinks to get through security checks.
There is rarely an opportunity to fill up reusable bottles after passing through security. Providing bottled water and food is an acknowledgement by airlines that aircrew don’t have access to the same facilities as office workers who usually have access to canteen facilities or nearby cafes and shops.
A member of Ryanair cabin crew might not even be able to shop in the airport and will instead remain onboard the aircraft for the majority of their workday which can last up to 12-hours.
If cabin crew at Ryanair want to drink a bottle of water that they didn’t bring on the plane, then they are expected to pay for it from the onboard shop. Ryanair charges €3 for a 500ml bottle of San Bendetto water.
Unions in Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain are frustrated with the pace of promised change in working conditions at the airline and are threatening a series of coordinated European-wide strikes this summer.
“The unions denounce the irregularities committed by Ryanair in the management of its personnel and the attacks on the rights of its workers such as the fact that the cabin crew continues to work without access to water on board the plane,” the Spanish USO union said in a statement on Friday.
The French SN-PNC union said its main demand of providing cabin crew with food and water had been rebuffed by Ryanair. “Faced with Ryanair’s disdainful behavior, the strike becomes our only option,” the union said.
Ryanair was hit by a wave of strikes in 2018 and 2019 after it finally agreed to let aircrew unionise. The airline said it was committed to improving pay and working conditions by reducing the use of contract staff and ending the controversial practice of making cabin crew pay for their own training and uniforms.
Cabin crew has access to water – they can take as much as they need from the water fountain placed in each so called crew room..
Clearly you didn’t read the article. You think an airline that won’t provided water to crewmembers on the plane has a crew room in every airport they fly into? That’s hilarious.
This article is ridiculous. The strike is not about water: it is about the company repeatedly not complying with local laws, even after court rulings. It’s about the intentional precarization of new contracts. It’s about the inability of the company to deal with work issues when it is operating in multiple countries. I suspect these content writers (obviously they are not journalists) are trying to hide the real motives to make the strike looks bad to the eyes of the public.