Ryanair Don't Care campaign

As we begin the week of action against Ryanair, we hope that people across the world are writing, faxing, emailing and making phone calls in protest at the airline's exploitative recruitment practices.

Attached are pro-forma demand letters to send to Ryanair and other key targets, which can be adapted as needed. Don't forget to include your name and/or the name of your organisation, along with contact details and let us know of any reply you receive.

In the order that the letters appear in the attachment, here are the contact details for the targets:

Ryanair

When a man handcuffed himself to the goalpost during Everton’s premier league match with Man City, little was known about his cause. In 2008, John Foley’s daughter was working as an air stewardess for Ryanair. Her contract was suddenly terminated during a shift, leaving her stranded abroad with no money and no way to get home. It soon became clear that this was happening to a significant number of Ryanair’s cabin crew before their probationary period had finished.  The airline, however, were still demanding a €3,000 training fee off these former employees, earning Ryanair a tidy profit out of sacking staff.

At last night's National Delegate Council, Solidarity Federation delegates also agreed to endorse the international week of action called by the Ryanair Don't Care Campaign.

Liverpool Solidarity Federation had voted in December to support the week of action, issuing a statement which call on other Solidarity Federation locals, the International Workers' Association, and all who support the struggle of workers against exploitative employers, to take the following action:

• Support the call-out for an International Week of Action against Ryanair, on the 12-18 March

• Hold pickets of airports where Ryanair put on flights, offices of Ryanair and agencies / recruitment fairs through which they hire staff

• Picket the Cheltenham Festival, which Ryanair sponsors, and particularly the Ryanair Chase on Thursday 15 March

The Ryanair Don't Care campaign, supported by Liverpool Solidarity Federation, is calling for an international week of action against exploitation and recruitment-scamming by Ryanair starting on March 12th 2012.

The Ryanair Don't Care Campaign was started by John Foley when his daughter was sacked as a flight attendant mid-flight and abandoned abroad, penniless. This would lead to the exposure of a cynical and highly exploitative recruitment scam by the airline.

In this video, John Foley shares some of the highlights of the last year of campaigning against Ryanair's exploitation of its employees. Liverpool Solidarity Federation continues to offer support to John and his direct action campaign. A member of Occupy Liverpool also explains why people at the camp support the campaign as well.

For background info on the Ryanair Don't Care Campaign, see here.

Ryanair Don't Care campaigner John Foley appeared at Liverpool magistrates court on Thursday (September 8th) following his rooftop protest at Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

SolFed members and supporters held a solidarity demo outside the court to support John and help promote the campaign.

Below is an interview we did with John and a few photos from the demo.
 

Below we reproduce some photographs of the rooftop protest held by John Foley at Liverpool John Lennon Airport. To avoid embarassment to the airport and Ryanair, the police placed a news blackout on the protest, meaning the local media were unable to report the story. As a result, Solidarity Federation was the only organisation publicising the action against Ryanair's exploitation of young cabin crew recruits.

The airport's management has particular reason to be concerned as they only realised John was on the roof of one of their buildings after he'd been there for over an hour and a local journalist informed them.

After spending 15 hours on the roof, John was arrested and spent 28 hours in police custody.

Workers' rights campaigner John Foley has begun a rooftop protest at Liverpool John Lennon Airport to highlight the exploitation of cabin crew by Ryanair.

John Foley, founder of the Ryanair Don't Care campaign against the exploitation and scamming of cabin crew, has staged a protest outside the offices of Dalmac, a recruitment company in Dublin used by the airline.

The YouTube video below shows someone connected with the company mounting the pavement in her car to drive over John's banner and, at one point, almost run over him.

John also attended a recent meeting of our local to talk about the campaign and how we can actively support it. He told us: "I have never told anyone not to work for Ryanair. I want to make information available about their employment practises. It's then up to individuals to make a choice for themselves." He also insisted that attempts by Ryanair and its partners to intimidate him will be fruitless.