Belgian union rejects Ryanair offer ahead of planned strike

The union representing Ryanair cabin crew in Belgium has rejected an offer from the Irish airline ahead of a planned one-day strike across five countries on Sept. 28, the union said Wednesday. Separately, European pilots threatened new strikes against Ryanair if talks with unions did not progress more quickly. Europe’s biggest budget airline offered to follow Belgian employment law from March 2020 for Ryanair contracted employees, seeking to address one of the major complaints over the company’s policy toward staff under Irish contracts. However, the Belgian union, CNE, said that would only help about half of its workers, as Ryanair had also been hiring using recruiter Crewlink, which issues its own contracts. The union said the offer was an “unacceptable” attempt to divide workers in order to buy time ahead of the planned strike. “It’s a deception on the part of Ryanair,” a CNE spokesman said. The threatened strike by cabin crew in Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain is aimed at pressuring shareholders set to meet on Thursday to address Ryanair’s labor agreements, union officials announced last week.<br/>