Rob Horgan
RYANAIR baggage handlers are currently staging an indefinite strike at Spain’s largest airport in Madrid.
Passengers have been left without the option of taking luggage in and out of Madrid for the fourth day in a row.
The budget airline’s bosses are now working ‘around the clock’ to cancel what they are terming an ‘illegal strike’.
The handlers’ union claims they are striking because Ryanair reportedly plans to cut their pay by 30%.
Passengers are now only allowed to bring hand luggage with them, although Ryanair has agreed to move travellers to a different airport or date, without any charge.
A Ryanair spokesman said: “All flights to and from Madrid are running as normal, however, customers have been requested to travel with cabin baggage only and have been offered the choice of transferring to alternative flights or alternative airports.
“We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused.
“Ryanair complies fully with all EU and Spanish employment law and with the Spanish Convenio.
“Our lawyers have lodged injunctions with the Labour Court, the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Transport against this illegal strike action.”
I got caught by this dispute as I could not fly from Madrid to Manchester with checked-in baggage. I was offered a flight from Málaga to Leeds and told through Ryanair’s Live Chat service that extra costs would be covered. I submitted my claim for extra costs and “surprise, surprise”, Ryanair have refused to pay. Not an airline I would recommend.
That nasty little t~#d that runs Ryanair has just been given a good slapping in Denmark. Why because he tried to abuse the ‘no minimum wage policy’ that Denmark has. Unlike those companies in the UK that pay terrible wages made up by the mug UK tax payers Denmark has a system of co-operation between employers and unions that means that everyone earns a respectable salary thus not needing any top-ups. Oh yes they also have strict rent controls as well – how terrible – a country run for the benefit of the majority – enough to give the nasty little Thatcherites a heart attack.