Despite the fact that Ryanair has formalized this Wednesday the closure of its bases in Lanzarote, Tenerife and Gran Canaria, which affects more than fifty employees on the island of Lanzarote and a total of 300 in the archipelago, the company has not publicly commented on it and has not notified employees of their dismissals, according to the USO union.
"The base closes today but the workers have not yet received any type of dismissal letter, not with the 15 days in advance required by law, nor absolutely anything," said the USO union delegate in Lanzarote, Aida Troitiño.
"Yesterday they sent us a memorandum saying that today they would send us the letters, but for the moment they are not complying with the 15-day deadline. And there is an option to pay them, but this is Ryanair, so we expect them to do everything wrong," she added.
However, although USO states that the dismissal letters have not been received, its union delegate in Lanzarote states that the company did inform them that this Wednesday they had to hand over "the uniform, the credentials, and the terminal that is used for sales on the plane". "That we hand over absolutely everything without being notified in any way or receiving compensation," she said.
Only about twenty workers relocated, almost all pilots
According to the USO union delegate in Lanzarote, of the more than fifty workers affected by the closure of the Ryanair base in Lanzarote, the company has only relocated about twenty to other bases, all of them pilots except for one cabin crew member.
"I think all but four pilots are leaving, because they were offered transfers if they reduced their salary to 75% and most have accepted," explained Aida Troitiño. In addition, according to the USO union delegate, the pilots were offered the possibility of moving to the Peninsula, which she says has not happened in the case of the cabin crew.
"They told us that there were no vacancies in the Peninsula for anyone. They only gave transfers to Dublin, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Germany, other destinations, but with contractual novations and starting from scratch, in addition to renouncing the possibility of severance pay and winning the annulment," explained Aida Troitiño, recalling that the unions have challenged Ryanair's ERE in the National Court.
"Because it is totally unjustified. They continue to hire people, they told us that there were no vacancies in the Peninsula for anyone and we have evidence that they have hired new people, they continue to hold competitions and have given transfers from foreign bases to Spain," she pointed out.
Routes that disappear or lose frequencies
Regarding flights that will be affected by the closure of the Ryanair base in Lanzarote, the USO union delegate has detailed that five routes have already disappeared and that in the coming months another two will disappear. Specifically, she said, the company has already stopped operating connections with Leeds Bradford, Newcastle and Knock, with Berlin Schonefeld airport and with Valencia, although the latter two will resume in April.
However, in April Ryanair will stop operating flights connecting Lanzarote with Santiago de Compostela and Liverpool. In addition, the USO union delegate in Lanzarote says that frequencies have also been lost on routes that are maintained, such as the connection with Madrid or Birmingham.
Finally, Aida Troitiño wanted to emphasize that USO is "in contact" with the Vice-Ministry of Employment to create training itineraries for Ryanair's dismissed workers. "Because this will increase the unemployment queues and the closure of the base will also mean, in chain, that indirect jobs will be lost," concluded the USO union delegate, who nevertheless hopes that the Justice will end up declaring the ERE of the company null and void.
