The unions are chosen by employees

After a judicial journey through the National Hearing in which the collective agreement was annulled that Ryanair and CCOO had signed to apply a salary ascent to the cabin crew, the airline sent its employees an unpublished requirement: since the collective agreement had been canceled, they should return to the company the salary rise that had been paid. However, the petition had a striking exception. Employees affiliated with CCOO (or affiliate) would not have to return anything.

Now, the Supreme Court has annulled the clause that discriminated against the airline employees allowing some to benefit from salary and other increases not based on Your union affiliation.

The origin of the problem. In 2022, Ryanair and CCOO They signed The I Collective Agreement for Cabin Crews that included a salary increase over the next three years (until April 2025). The union use, with a 22.9% representation of the workforce, took that agreement to the National Court for considering that his negotiating table had left out a quarter of the template. The National Court issued a sentence in its favor and the agreement It was canceled.

As a consequence, Ryanair demanded that his employees return the salary increases included in that agreement that had been annulled, with amounts that in some cases exceeded 4,000 euros, such and as he collected The confidential. The airline argued that, in compliance with a clause signed with CCOO in that agreement, if the employees were affiliated or joined CCOO, they would not have to return the Salary increase.

The new Supreme Judgment. The UGT, ATR and Sitcpla unions, on behalf of the Ryanair staff, filed an appeal before the Supreme Court that now corrects the decision of the National Court. In its sentence, the clause agreed between the airline and CCOO in which it was specified: “(…) will apply to all cabin crew employed by Ryanair and affiliated with CCOO (including CCOO affiliates during the duration of the agreement), being the agreement applicable since the month that are pleased to the union.”

The Supreme Judgment of which the union has echoed In a statementrecognizes that the clause introduces a grievance of union discrimination, indicating that Ryanair “cannot establish as a mandatory requirement to benefit from the agreement an discriminatory condition, such as affiliation to a specific union.” In addition, it considers that “such a clause violates the negative dimension of freedom of association by inducing or pressing workers not affiliated to join so as not to be excluded from certain labor advantages.”

Ryanair cannot choose union. The judgment issued by the Supreme Court comes to rectify the first pronouncement made by the National Court, which attributed this clause to “a decision of union policy, which may or may not be shared, but which enters within the powers of the union, of its way of conceiving the union action.”

From use celebrate The Supreme Decision, ensuring that “the freedom of association has triumphed, when recognizing, already in a final judgment and without the possibility of more resources, the right of working persons to be able to adhere to an extra -state agreement signed with a union, without having to join this. This avoids the temptation of companies to ‘kidnap’ workers through affiliation to a employer of employer choice to built collective bargaining. To critical unions, “reads his statement.

Ryanair satisfied, but condemned. Likewise, in the new judgment, the High Court condemns Ryanair to the payment of 7,501 euros for damages to the use and UGT unions for moral damages derived from such violation of freedom of association.

For its part, the Michael O’Leary airline ensures in a statement sent to the press that “the Spanish Supreme Court has failed in favor of Ryanair in relation to the limited scope agreements negotiated with CCOO for the period 2022-2024. The Supreme Court has dismissed the allegations of use that the agreement should be annulled and confirms that the salary improvements and conditions applied to the salary of cabin based in Spain for the period 2022-2024 are valid.

In addition, the company adds that “we are pleased that this sentence has given guarantees to our cabin crew based on Spain that its salary improvements and conditions will be maintained and will not be reduced by the continuous attempts to use the agreements that improve the working conditions of the cabin crew.”

Ambiguous response. Ryanair’s official response does not make clear the impact of the new sentence on the salary increase of his cabin staff.

At the time of publishing this article, the airline has not answered our questions about whether the company will stop claiming employees not affiliated with CCOO the salary increase already paid or, on the contrary, it will be claimed to claim all its employees, regardless of the union to which they are affiliated. We will update that information if the company gives us an answer.

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Image | Flickr (Sandor Somkuti)