Ryanair Don't Care protest at Everton v Man City game

Ryanair Don't Care campaigner John Foley handcuffed himself to the goalposts during last night's Premier League match between Everton and Man City at Goodison Park.

Submitted by thegonzokid on February 1, 2012

This particular match was chosen because Ryanair chief exploiter Michael O'Leary is a passionate Man City fan and was at the match.

As with previous direct action protests, the aim was to highlight exploitation and recruitment-scamming* by Ryanair.

Within a matter of hours, the story had gone viral on Twitter (with even Joey Barton tweeting about it) and had been picked up by newspapers and websites across the world...

Liverpool Echo

Press Association

Yahoo! Sports

Daily Mail

Huffington Post

Sydney Morning Herald

NBCSports.com

The Ryanair Don't Care campaign, together with Solidarity Federation, is calling for an international week of action against the airline starting on March 12th 2012.

* This refers to Ryanair's policy of terminating cabin crew contracts before the probationary period has finished, while still pocketing 3,000 euros training fee.

Watch an interview with John about the protest here here.

Comments

wojtek

12 years 1 month ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by wojtek on February 2, 2012

Wow, fantastic John. I'd never have the courage to do that! Ignore the haters.

EDIT: It says 'here' twice in the forth line of the introduction

Chilli Sauce

12 years 1 month ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Chilli Sauce on February 1, 2012

Ballsy move.

Sharon Tracy

12 years 1 month ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Sharon Tracy on February 1, 2012

Never in the history of aviation was so much owed by so many to one person.
Thank you John !!!
John Foley – Great Man. Important Work. Real Courage.

Picket

12 years 1 month ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Picket on February 1, 2012

None of the reporting actually explains what he's protesting about. It comes across like he's just pissed off his daughter didn't get a job. No mention is made of the "training fee" scam.

Just the usual then.

Liverpool Echo

In a statement, Everton said: "Bolt-cutters were used to remove the offender, who was roundly booed as he was escorted from the ground.

"It transpired that the supporter is a known professional protester, allegedly protesting about an airline's recruitment policy. He was arrested by Merseyside Police, who are now dealing with the matter."

there is a "background info" link which I thought would go into detail about his protest but no:

Liverpool echo

A PROTESTER handcuffed himself to a goalpost at Goodison Park during the game between Everton FC and Man City this evening.

It took police several minutes to free him with bolt cutters and detain him, delaying the end of the first half.

It was believed to be John Foley - the same man who staged a protest on top of the Crown Plaza Hotel, near to Liverpool John Lennon airport in Speke, back in February 2010.
Goodison Park protest

Back then he was brandishing a banner criticising Ryanair's training programme and remained on the rooftop for around eight hours before voluntarily climbing down.

His actions were thought to be part of a campaign against his daughter's alleged unfair dismissal by Ryanair - claims which were firmly denied by the company at the time.
Goodison Park protester

Responding to the protest in 2010, Ryanair’s European Communication Manager Daniel de Carvalho said: "Ryanair can confirm that this person was never directly employed by Ryanair, she was employed by Crewlink which supply contract cabin crew to Ryanair.

"Crewlink confirm that this woman failed her probation as within the first seven weeks she had a number of occasions of lateness, a large number of uncertified leave days and one occasion where she did not report for duty.

“At Ryanair we maintain very high standards of professionalism among our cabin crew and people who are unwilling to work hard or turn up for work will not continue to be employed either by Ryanair or by any of our contractors."

More recently - in August last year - Foley was believed to be to be protesting on the same issue at John Lennon Airport, as seen in the picture below:
Airport protest

Foley also stormed the track at the Cheltenham horse racing festival in March last year to protest during the Ryanair Chase.

He climbed over safety barriers and waved a banner in the middle of the course as the horses hurtled towards the finish line.

thegonzokid

12 years 1 month ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by thegonzokid on February 1, 2012

Pikel - some of the reporting is shite, that's to be expected. Some of it's pretty good though. Surprising the Daily Mail article goes into the purpose of the campaign. The blog has had over 30,000 hits and couple of the YouTube videos have been viewed over 1,000 times, so the message is spreading.

Helen Meddah

12 years 1 month ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Helen Meddah on February 7, 2012

hi John,
well done for standing up to them, my 18 year old daughter has been through the same thing. Me and my husband are very angry. My daughter was left heart broken as becoming an air stewardess was her dream job. She worked extremely hard but they found every excuse to push her out from the job. She was expected to manage on 16 hours a month with rent and bills to pay as she was living away from home. She was told if she claimed working tax credit or another job to manage financially she would be shown the door.They made it impossible for her to survive.

Me and my husband would like to get involved in the protestas they need to be stopped from breaking the law and breaking people's hearts.

Chilli Sauce

12 years 1 month ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Chilli Sauce on February 7, 2012

Thanks for that Helen and so sorry to hear about your daughter.

I don't actually think John posts on this site. I imagine that thegonzokid will probably send you a private message to give you the low down on how to get involved. However, if you don't hear anything, you can send an email to training (at) solfed.org.uk and we'll be able to put you in touch with people who are organising the campaign alongside John.