Home » Industrial relations » National industrial relations » Spain: unions claim new Ryanair contracts break the law Spain: unions claim new Ryanair contracts break the law Through . Published on 13 December 2019 à 11h35 - Update on 13 December 2019 à 16h52 Resources Sign the new deal or lose your job. This was the offer Ryanair made to the 164 employees at its base in Girona, north of Barcelona. The airline company had announced the closure of four sites in Spain, before ultimately agreeing to keep the Girona premises open, provided staff sign individual contracts that would drastically alter their pay and working conditions without recourse to collective bargaining. Under the new contracts, employees will work the equivalent of nine months per year, with interspersed periods of unemployment and be hit with a 25% cut to annual pay. Meanwhile cabin crew will be recategorized as ‘client service agents’ and their length of service in their role will be erased. All the employees that refused to sign the deal were included in the redundancy plan set to take effect from 8 January. The USO, Sitcpla and SEPLA have expressed opposition against these agreements, obtained amid significant pressure and the threat of the Girona site’s complete closure. They have brought what they deem to be irregularities before Spain’s labour inspectorate, which is examining the legality of a process that involved a substantial modification of working conditions, wages and seniority, with out any compensation in return. The unions denounce an “infringement to the fundamental right to freedom of association and collective bargaining”. They point out that, according to the Spanish labour code, companies with less than 300 employees can modify working conditions without going through collective bargaining if the changes do not affect more than 10% of employees, which would not be the case in this instance. Need more info ? Contact mind's on-demand study service Which service do you want to contact :WritingCommercial serviceTechnical SupportFirst name Last name Organization Function email* Object of the message Your messageRGPD J’accepte la politique de confidentialité.EmailThis field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Essentials Les dernières publications Supporting parenthood in the workplace: a win-win strategy Supporting employee carers: a CSR challenge Analyzes Les dernières publications Paternity leave: data observations from 41 countries EU: during H1 2022 five EU Member States have raised their minimum salary levels