Eight remaining cabin crew employees at Ryanair’s former base at Eindhoven airport are to claim compensation for their dismissal.
Their departure from the Irish airline is the result of a ‘damaged relationship’ between employer and employees, according to FNV. FNV, which stands for Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging, is a federation of Dutch trade unions. Ryanair disputes this claims and states that the employees were dismissed for purely economic reasons.
When Ryanair closed its base at Eindhoven airport last year, it requested permission from UWV (Uitvoeringsinstituut Werknemers Verzekeringen, or the Employee Insurance Agency) to dismiss 30 of its pilots and cabin crew employees. However, UWV did not accept their request.
Ryanair then began a legal case with a judge in Eindhoven to be granted the legal right to enforce early retirement for eight of its employees. They claimed this was necessary due to economic reasons.
‘Bullying’
FNV agrees that the employment contracts of the eight employees should be terminated, but not due to economic reasons. They say that the contract should end because the employment relationship has been soured by bullying. According to FNV, this should come with compensation for the employees.
Most of the employees are non-Dutch citizens who had built their social lives in Eindhoven.
In addition to this case, at the end of April, a judge decided that Ryanair must pay compensation to eight pilots compensation following the closure of the Eindhoven base. The compensation should be several hundreds of thousands of euros each.
Source: Omroep Brabant
Translator: Rachael Vickerman
