The entire staff of Ryanair in Belgium can be covered by Belgian law from the 1st of April. Local laws already applied since January to pilots and cabin crews directly employed by the low-cost Irish carrier, but not to some 350 persons employed by Crewlink, one of Ryanair’s subcontractors, who worked under less favourable conditions.
The employees concerned, the vast majority of whom work at Brussels Airport, will be given the opportunity to sign contracts with Ryanair itself between the 1st of April and the 1st of May, according to the Centrale Nationale des Employés (CNE). The same goes for people employed by Workforce, another Ryanair subcontractor, the Christian trade union federation said.
Ryanair staff in Belgium and some other European countries went on an unprecedented series of strikes in 2018 to press demands to be covered by the labour laws of the countries where they worked.
However, the application of Belgian social law to Ryanair staff does not mean the end of the struggle, according to the CNE. It remains to be seen how the company will apply the local labour laws, Hans Elsen of LBC-NVK, the Flemish wing of CNE, explained.
The Brussels Times
