This document below comprises an Editorial and an article from Ireland on Sunday,
Ryanair's shame
THIS NEWSPAPER has always admired the Ryanair success story. Michael
O'Leary took on European protectionism and a cartel of flag-carrier
airlines that, between them, fixed ridiculously high prices for air travel.
In doing so, he opened up the skies to millions who had never flown before
and, more than anyone, has made hopping on a plane about as mysterious as
taking the bus was for a previous generation.
But, in doing so, he must be careful to maintain basic standards of decency.
Today, we raise questions about employment practices for Ryanair cabin crew
which, although legal, reek of exploitation.
While we all want cheap fares, do we really want them on the back of Eastern
European crew members working for as little as ?15 a flight?
Surely not. The way these people are recruited, trained, tied in to bank
loans, contracted out and denied a basic salary seems little more than a
form of bonded slavery. If that is the real price of a cheap flight, then -
in our opinion - it is not worth it.
2. Article
YOUNG EASTERN EUROPEANS LURED HERE FOR AIR STEWARD JOBS COMPELLED TO WORK A
SIX DAY WEEK UNTIL TRAINING COURSE LOAN IS PAID OFF
Ryanair the no frills employer
IRELAND ON SUNDAY - SPECIAL INVESTIGATION - By Valerie Hanley - 5/12/04
No sick leave, pay for your own meals and the cost of cleaning uniform and
then earn ?15 a flight
SCARCELY A day goes by without Ryanair chief Michael O'Leary trumpeting his
own genius in cutting costs at the airline so his customers can travel to
Paris and back for less than the price of a pint.
So he flies you to an out-of-town airport, makes you pay for your own
sandwich, charges ?6 a kilo for excess baggage, removes the seat pocket in
front of you to cut down on cleaning time and even plasters the luggage bins
with ads, to generate even more revenue.
They are all innovations that contribute to his swashbuckling legend and
place him firmly on the side of the consumer, fighting the crumbling
monopolies of Europe's formerly high-flying State-owned airlines.
What you are less likely to hear about are some of the other ways that
Ryanair cuts costs. In a bid to cushion profit margins from rising fuel
prices and to offset stiffer competition from rival firms, the airline has
employed a company to lure dozens of Eastern Europeans to this country. In
places such as Latvia, where the average monthly wage is ?300 - a quarter of
that earned by Irish workers on the minimum wage - it is not difficult to
convince young people burning with a desire to escape from grinding poverty
that far away hills are indeed greener.
They are seduced with the promise of:
a.. earning an annual salary of approximately ?20,000, which is four or
five times more than they could possibly earn at home;
b.. a jet-set lifestyle which guarantees them bonus payments each time
they board a plane;
c.. a 12-month contract with an international airline;
d.. airline tickets and transfers to Ireland to train as airline stewards;
e.. accommodation with Irish host families while training in Ireland;
f.. health insurance;
g.. tax refunds.
Competition for this chance of a lifetime is keen. When recruiters arrive at
the Radisson Hotel in the Latvian capital of Riga to interview potential
candidates, they can see as many as 500 to 700 applicants a day. However,
only 50 at a time are selected to complete the five-week training course
which helps qualify them to work as airline cabin crew.
Applicants are interviewed in Latvia by representatives of Ryanair and a
Dublin recruitment firm, Dalmac. Based in Rush, Dalmac runs language
courses which are approved by the Department of Education. Since opening its
doors for business 15 years ago, the company has become one of the leading
players in the language business, bringing huge numbers of young Spanish
students here to learn English each summer.
Dalmac is run by husband and-wife team Anne and Desmond McCrudden and their
daughter, Laura, has also been involved.
The couple are also directors of a company called Workforce International
Contractors Limited, which has a three-year contract to provide Ryanair with
cabin crew.
This arrangement has obviously proved to be lucrative for the McCruddens.
Anne and her husband own a fleet of vehicles, including two vans and an
eye-catching silver 04 Audi A4 two-door convertible sports car worth in
excess of ?50,000.
Business is booming so much that the couple have decided to put their
spacious four-bedroom bungalow, located on the main road leading into Mrs
McCrudden's home town of Rush, on the market so that they can move to more
exclusive surroundings. The asking price for their home, set on almost
three-quarters of an acre, is ?650,000.
Despite being a jet-setting career woman, Mrs McCrudden, 48, still manages
to find the time to play an active role in her local theatre group. She has
appeared in prominent roles in various productions such as Dancing At
Lughnasa with the Millbank Theatre Company in Rush.
Leaflets enticing young Latvians to train in Ireland as air stewards are
circulated by a company called Jartes. And according to Workforce
International director Anne McCrudden, Jartes is an agent for her company.
Training course costs ?3,000
Interested applicants are told they must submit a completed registration
form, four colour photos, a medical certificate, a police clearance
certificate, two copies of their passport and a CV These documents must be
supplied in English but, for a fee of ?114 Jartes offers to provide English
versions.
Potential candidates are also told the training course costs ?2,800 on
credit. However, by the time recruits sign training contracts in Latvia with
Dalmac they are informed that the cost of the course is ?3,000 and that they
can cover their fees by availing of a ?3,000 loan from Bank of Ireland. The
loan is repayable over 12 months and they must pay monthly instalments of
?276. However, the finer details of what they are signing up to are lost on
many of those applying because of their poor knowledge of English and their
overwhelming eagerness to make a good life for themselves.
It is not until they have signed a work contract with Dalmac's sister
company, Workforce International, that they realise all is not as it seems.
The contract offered to them states that: `This position is at all times
subject to the company holding a contract with Ryanair Ltd. In the event of
the company losing the contract to provide personnel to the client, this
contract will automatically terminate.'
They also discover that they are locked into working for Ryanair until their
Bank of Ireland loans are cleared. But Bank of Ireland insists this
arrangement is not irregular.
This weekend, a bank spokesman said: `This is unsecured lending. This is
structured in a different way than normal, and all parties are happy.
`It is hard to determine what irregular means. This may not be regular
lending. These people do not have a repayment history with ourselves. It is
innovative with regard to how this has been set up,' added the spokesman.
Meanwhile, after beating stiff competition to get a place on the course,
candidates must pay to avail of the free flights to Ireland offered to them.
They can fly for free only on Ryanair only if they make their own way to a
Ryanair base. As a result some recruits end up paying as much as ?100 to
travel by bus overland to connect with a Ryanair flight.
In addition, they must pay a ?750 deposit before leaving Latvia to cover
accommodation and other costs, including tuition. This is refunded only if a
trainee successfully completes the course.
Those who fail suffer the same fate as Ryanair travellers who miss their
flights. There are no refunds available.
Then, on arrival in Dublin, trainees discover that their glamorous-sounding
international airline steward training school is nothing more than a
Portakabin. Located at the back of the Dalmac language school in Main
Street, Rush, conditions there are basic, with trainees forced to sit almost
shoulder-to-shoulder in cramped classrooms.
They are so tightly packed together that those on the course struggle to
keep their eyes open while many find it difficult to concentrate because of
the lack of fresh air. The majority of these students spend only one short
lesson on board an aircraft before doing their final exam - but to qualify
as airline stewards, they must also spend three days on practice flights
with Ryanair.
All trainees must cover their own travel costs of getting on board these
flights - which must originate from a base outside Ireland.
'Not paid a penny for stand-by'
When these young Eastern Europeans eventually graduate from their training
course and practice flights, they are offered work contracts with Workforce
International - and their working conditions are shameful.
Instead of getting either the ?800-1000 basic monthly salary that many of
their Irish counterparts receive or the ?20,000 annual salary they thought
they were getting, they are paid only for the actual flights they work - and
the rates are dismal. They are paid a miserly ?15 for flights lasting less
than 105 minutes - an hour-and-three-quarters - and are entitled only to an
extra ?8 for longer flights.
However, they are not entitled to be paid for:
a.. being at the airport one hour before scheduled departures;
b.. the time they spend reporting to Ryanair head office at the end of
each working day;
c.. sitting at home in full uniform waiting on stand-by to be called to
work;
d.. `force majeure' days off from work. These days are allowed for absence
due to unforeseen circumstances and, under Irish law, all employees are
entitled to five such days off per annum with full pay;
e.. being off work on sick leave. Instead staff must claim sickness
benefit from social welfare;
f.. the cost of cleaning their airline uniforms, which they rent from the
company for ?30 a month.
In addition, they are not allowed to drink water, tea or coffee while on
board and they must pay for their meals.
However, they are paid commission earned on flight sales, are entitled to
?30 for the eight-hour days they may spend waiting at Ryanair airport bases
on standby to work, and they are paid ?60 for annual days off.
A source revealed: `These people work on six-day rotas. Waiting at home
dressed in full uniform, waiting for the phone to ring and call them to
work, is part of their usual working week.
`They are not paid a penny for it. It is only once in a blue moon that they
will be on airport standby and that is because the company has to pay them
for that. I think these people are being totally exploited.'
Both Ryanair and Workforce International deny that Latvian staff are working
below the national minimum wage. In a statement issued this weekend, Ryanair
said Workforce International staff contracted to work with the airline
insisted they were earning an annual salary of ?20,000. The company would
not be drawn on the fact that Latvian staff are paid only on a per-flight
basis.
Ryanair also denied that staff did not enjoy the same legal entitlements as
Irish workers, who are allowed five fully paid `force majeure' days.
It insisted that staff can get free water at Ryanair bases but would not
comment of whether they could get beverages free of charge on flights. Their
work contracts clearly state they must look after their own sustenance costs
while on board.
Meanwhile, a company spokesman stated that, regardless of nationality, staff
are not paid for stand-by days spent at home waiting for a call to work.
However, Workforce International director Anne McCrudden did confirm that
people contracted by her company to work for Ryanair do not receive a basic
salary, which some of their Irish colleagues are paid.
She also said that the payment of a ?750 deposit by Latvians before they
completed her training course was `for their own protection'.
'I told no one they would get a salary'
`Jartes are an agent in Riga. We are not linked to them. They send people
for interview,' said Mrs McCrudden. `I am shocked if they say in their
literature that people will get a basic salary.
`I haven't told anyone that they will get a basic salary. You had better
contact Jartes about that. The cost of training is ?3,000 and I don't know
why you are talking about ?2,800.
`There is no one on less than the minimum wage. Almost all of them would be
coming out with ?19,000 or ?20,000,' she added. 'We put the ?750 deposit in
place for their own protection. The loan comes into effect only on the last
day of the course and, if they fail, they lose only ?750, not ?3,000.
`The deposit pays for their accommodation, airport transfers, food etc. They
are gaining. We are losing on that,' she said.
Mrs McCrudden also denied that conditions at the training centre were
cramped.
John said,
The loan for Ryanair cabin crew training from Bank of Ireland then Allied Irish Bank is NOT in place anymore as a direct result of pressure from Ryanairdontcare Campaign.....Dalmc/Ryanair training course
for May 29th has been cancelled as a low recruitment drive is in place THANKS to Ryanairdontcare Campaign..
''Doomed to Fail'' Mr O'Leary....................
