France slams Ryanair ‘blackmail’ over job ultimatum
Published on: Thursday, June 04, 2020
By: AFP
A Ryanair passenger plane is pictured at Dublin Airport in Ireland on March 23, 2020. © Paul Faith, AFP/Archives
PARIS: France on Tuesday denounced as “blackmail” an ultimatum from low-cost carrier Ryanair for its French employees to choose between a five-year pay cut or a number of redundancies in an escalating labour dispute.The offer from the Dublin-based no-frills carrier, long accused by critics of abrasive labour tactics, comes as the aviation industry grapples with an unprecedented crisis after the collapse in global demand for air travel due to the coronavirus.
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“Blackmail is never an option,” Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told RTL radio. “Jobs will be protected by imaginative solutions, but definitely not through blackmail,” he said.
The aviation industry is facing drastic losses due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has closed borders across the world and paralysed air transport.
Ryanair has already announced plans to axe 3,000 pilot and cabin crew jobs, or 15 percent of staff across its European network.
In France, Ryanair operates from hubs including the Marseille, Toulouse and Bordeaux airports.
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