This is a campaign that should be supported far and wide. We're going to be working with John to support the actions against Ryanair, potentially leading to national/international days of action. Watch this space 
Jul 11 2011 10:22
Jul 12 2011 22:40
The CNT have some union sections in Ryanair so we're looking into how we can help make the campaign go global/continental. The IWA is also going to come in really handy in this respect. The Ryanair Don't Care campaign have responded positively to this, even blogging an article from libcom.
Jul 13 2011 13:32
Will support as it gets going.
Aug 24 2011 00:10
Rooftop protest against Ryanair at Liverpool John Lennon Airport
http://www.solfed.org.uk/?q=anti-exploitation-protest-at-liverpool-john-lennon-airport
Aug 24 2011 09:09
thegonzokid wrote:
Rooftop protest against Ryanair at Liverpool John Lennon Airporthttp://www.solfed.org.uk/?q=anti-exploitation-protest-at-liverpool-john-lennon-airport
What's the relationship with Liverpool SF and the Ryanair campaign? Have y'all officially endorsed the campaign? Are there other groups involved? And the guy who started it, he's an ex-employee of Ryanair? Is he an SF member? What are his politics and what does he want to get out of the campaign? Unionisation? Also, hasn't the CNT organised Ryanair workers? Has any contact been made?
Aug 25 2011 10:12
Chilli Sauce wrote:
What's the relationship with Liverpool SF and the Ryanair campaign? Have y'all officially endorsed the campaign?
Yep, at a meeting of our local in July, we unanimously voted to endorse the campaign and have offered to assist it any way we can. See here.
Chilli Sauce wrote:
Are there other groups involved?
No, not as far as I'm aware. It's mainly John, his friends and family and a few assorted individuals. And us, obviously.
Chilli Sauce wrote:
And the guy who started it, he's an ex-employee of Ryanair? Is he an SF member? What are his politics
Three years ago, John's daughter was a victim of the practise of recruitment-for-termination at Ryanair. He began the campaign then (see the interview in the link above). John isn't a fully fledged SF member (yet!), but he has been to our last local meeting and our recent public meeting on the 1911 general transport strike. He does seem strongly inclinced towards anarchism.
Chilli Sauce wrote:
what does he want to get out of the campaign? Unionisation?
The main demands are an end to recruitment-for-termination and the sacking of the board which he believes could herald a sea-change in the working environment at Ryanair. Essentially he intends to be a thorn in the side of Ryanair's management until staff are treated with dignity, respect and fairness.
Chilli Sauce wrote:
Also, hasn't the CNT organised Ryanair workers? Has any contact been made?
Yeah, SF interational secretary is trying to get more info from the CNT about this.
Aug 25 2011 10:32
Thanks Gonzo! At last nite's NLSF meeting we decided we might be interested in bringing the Ryanair Don't Care campaign south... I think you'll be receiving an email soon enough.
Aug 25 2011 10:38
Just a note that maybe some of the information in the post above is personal and should be removed, unless it is okay for it to be in the public domain. Ryanair's PR department are probably reading this thread.
Aug 26 2011 09:59
Steven. wrote:
Just a note that maybe some of the information in the post above is personal and should be removed, unless it is okay for it to be in the public domain. Ryanair's PR department are probably reading this thread.
He's fine with this info being in the public domain, I wouldn't use it otherwise. Check out the liverpoolsolfed Youtube channel, there's a couple of interviews I did with John where he talks about all this stuff. We also know from IP logs that Ryanair have been on the SolFed and campaign websites. The management including O'leary know him by name as well.
Aug 25 2011 21:44
Chilli Sauce wrote:
Thanks Gonzo! At last nite's NLSF meeting we decided we might be interested in bringing the Ryanair Don't Care campaign south... I think you'll be receiving an email soon enough.
Brilliant! Some interesting developments in the next few days.
Aug 26 2011 10:30
Quote:
Check out the liverpoolsolfed Youtube channel
How has that worked out for Liverpool? Bring in many hits and sort of video conversations?
Aug 26 2011 11:12
Chilli Sauce wrote:
Quote:
Check out the liverpoolsolfed Youtube channelHow has that worked out for Liverpool? Bring in many hits and sort of video conversations?
The interviews with John have been watched a couple of hundred times each. I think his name is quite well known amongst Ryanair workers so he gets Googled quite a bit.
We haven't got many videos up on Youtube yet but we're hoping our resident anarcho-syndicalist film-maker will produce a few soon.
Aug 30 2011 15:53
Do you know how the police enforced the news blockout on the protest?
Aug 30 2011 18:07
The police can demand that the media don't report certain things, such as during the hunt for Raoul Moat. We believe the reason in this case was the serious breach of security at the airport. Yet when John staged a rooftop protest at a hotel in the city last year, it was openly reported in the local press.
Sep 2 2011 01:52
I think the mechanism the police use to make this happen is that the local press rely on the police for getting cheap and easy stories to fill their pages. If the police stop cooperating with a local paper, it can really cut into their coverage. So when the police ask 'favours' of the local press (and the national press in many cases) they are not appealing to loyalty, but the self interest of the owner and management.
Edit: also, well fucking done to John Foley. I've no idea how he pulled this off, but it must have taken shit loads of courage and planning.
Mar 5 2012 19:00
is there something like demands in points? i cannot find anything.
btw, what is "recruitment-for-termination policy", we have problem to translate it and even google it. we need it for a solidarity call in Slovakia and Czech. thanks to anyone for answers
Mar 5 2012 19:07
MT wrote:
"recruitment-for-termination policy"
my understanding is that people pay 3,000 euros to train, and only have to pay it back if they get a job. ryanair then hire lots more people than they need, and then sack most of them. this leaves people with no job and a 3,000 euro debt to the training company. so they're recruiting people knowing full well most of them will be promptly sacked (/terminated).
Mar 5 2012 19:35
thanks JK!
hopefully someone will answer also the demands question.
we have looked back at our cnt-zaragoza soli actions and the whole campaign (info on the conflict here and here on libcom). there was a problem to reach RA via email and these personal emails to RA people were found somewhere in 2009:
oneills@ryanair.com, penstonm@ryanair.com, greenc@ryanair.com, winiarkskaa@ryanair.com, kellyg@ryanair.com, kahlowm@ryanair.com, itinerary@ryanair.com, info@frsc.net, priceguarantee@ryanair.com
just for consideration, cos the campaign contains only the RA e-mail form at the moment (which may be enough, but addressing a complaint personally has its magic;))
plus there is still online this antiRA website http://www.ryanaircampaign.org/ but i am not sure if it is of any use
Mar 5 2012 20:26
more questions;)
the campaign's bolog contains this info
Quote:
As you know training is now paid through monthly deductions...This is a result of Ryanairdontcare Campaign's Complaining to Allied Irish Bank and the Irish financial ombudsman which stopped this AIB 3,500 Euro Ryanair Training loan to Probationary Cabin Crew for training to be paid in one payment...
http://ryanairdontcarecrew.blogspot.com/2012/01/ryanair-week-of-action-in-europe-12th.html
does it mean that the 3000 pounds ripoff is not valid anymore? it seems so, which then means that the information about the initial training phase (which results in as much as 200 "failing" people per month) is not valid anymore as well.
i am confused now. again, are there any demands o f this campaign in some points? the blog has enormous amount of info i am not able to read and the answers to the questions above seem to me quite crucial.
also, what is the name of the agency that takes the money? i was not able to find it:(
oh, one more thing - can someone summarize the gains of the campaign so far? it would be nice to publicize them more i think
Mar 6 2012 17:34
any feedback from someone? there is a week of actions all over GB so i believe anyone could know the simple facts i ask. in slovakia we would like to prepare something as well, so quick response would be very helpful, thanks.
Mar 6 2012 19:12
Hi MT,
In the past, the Allied Irish Bank gave loans to trainee cabin crew and then houded them for repayments when their contracts were terminated. They no longer issue the loans but the fee is still demanded by Ryanair.
The single main gain of the campaign so far is raising awareness of Ryanair's exploitative recruitment practises so people don't get screwed over by them (there isn't exact figures for how many people choose not to apply to work as probationary cabin crew, but the campaign has received many emails from people thanking them for highlighting the recruitment scam). The campaign can take some credit for AIB ending its complicity in exploiting cabin crew and a reduction in Ryanair's recruitment, but there's not definitive evidence to link the two.
I think the agency is Dalmac, but I'll see if I can get confirmation of that.
The main demands are an end to the recruitment scam and an end to the widespread exploitation of cabin crew. Hopefully the week of action will be a message of solidarity with Ryanair workers and warning to those who are thinking of applying to work with them.
Mar 7 2012 20:24
thank you very much for the explanation, now it all makes much more sense!
Mar 12 2012 10:33
bump
Can comment on articles and discussions
I think this is a really good campaign. One of the good things about the office angels campaign was that they and their parent company had lots of physical locations all over the world that people could turn up to and picket. I wonder if the same is true of Ryanair and any related companies? I tried to look for a list of Ryanair offices online, but couldn't find a good one. Given the nature of the busniness, I suspect they have far fewer locations, which might mean employing very different tactics. It's also a much bigger issue, and more bound up in government regulation and public awareness, which might make direct action, short of a strike amongst Ryanair workers, less effective. Still, I look forward to seeing how SolFed and others approach this since Ryanair really need to be challenged for what they do.