Transcript
The clash between the ethics of working conditions within the national airline industry Bachelor thesis in International Social Science
Afnan Azzouz (49597), Annette Graae Holm (49276), Joanna Thue Cudjoe (50017) & Sara Malene Justesen (50409)
Number of characters: 154.380
Supervisor: Jacob Rendtorff 27th of May, 2015
Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
Summary This research paper examines how Ryanair can challenge the Danish working conditions in the national airline industry, by not accepting to make collective agreements with Danish labor unions, considered the working conditions of its employees. In order to reach this, an analysis of how it is possible for Ryanair to operate as a business in regards to its employees is conducted. The research is going to be conducted by means of the stakeholder theory that functions as a theoretical framework and gives a deeper insight of Ryanair’s stakeholders and their influence on the business. Furthermore EU is considered as a main stakeholder, which led the project to investigate the role of EU. Additionally, a more comprehensive focus on the stakeholder group, consumers, will be given as they were considered to have the greatest influence on Ryanair’s success. It was proven from a survey, that consumers prioritize price highest when buying flight tickets. However, the survey also concluded that enlightenment about Ryanair's working conditions made the consumer to reconsider buying the lowprice tickets from Ryanair. However the project discuss the possibilities of the consumers behavior in public compared to private, as one cannot escape the fact that Ryanair continues to be the most successful company in the European airline industry. However the project has provided evidences that makes the researchers of this project to reconsider Ryanair's future success on the market, due to the proven impact of the consumers as a major stakeholder group. The project concludes that in order to prevent this from happing, it requires among other things the EU to form a common law that gives companies specific requirements when operating in the specific member state.
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
Table of Contents Summary ..................................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction................................................................................................................................................. 4 Problem area................................................................................................................................................ 4 Research question ........................................................................................................................................ 6 Working questions........................................................................................................................................ 6 Research design............................................................................................................................................ 7 Bibliography............................................................................................................................................... 60 Books..................................................................................................................................................... 60 Thesis..................................................................................................................................................... 61 Websites ................................................................................................................................................ 62 Interviews: ............................................................................................................................................. 65 Others.................................................................................................................................................... 65 Appendix...................................................................................................................................................... 1 I: Interview with Henrik Bay Clausen from 3F.............................................................................................. 1 II: Interview with Anders Mark Jensen from FPU....................................................................................... 12 III: Timeline ............................................................................................................................................ 15 IV: Survey data analysis: .......................................................................................................................... 21 V: Transcription of interview with former Ryanair employee Alessandra Cocca........................................... 38 VI: Price differences ................................................................................................................................ 49 VII: Ryanair’s job advertisement .............................................................................................................. 51 - See more at: http://corporate.ryanair.com/careers/#sthash.JVs94Dlt.dpuf ............................... 52 CABIN CREW RECRUITMENT........................................................................................................... 52 CABIN CREW CAREERS................................................................................................................ 52
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
Introduction The Irish airline company Ryanair has in March 2015 opened a base in Copenhagen Airport. Due to the company's reputation in regards to selling tickets with very low prices; many Danes have had their attention towards the expanding business. However, Ryanair is also having bad reputation concerning its way of treating its employees, which have caused debates about the issues it is providing Danish working conditions and are in the interest of this project to study.
Problem area In recent years, there have been various debates in the Danish society, concerning the Danes' opinion in regards to child labor, fair trade, social dumping, etc., thus in general their position towards working conditions. One of the heavily debated issues is Ryanair's attempt to expand their business to the Copenhagen airport in 2015 without wanting to make a collective agreement with Danish labor unions. The reason for this being an issue is due to several aspects. The first is that, having a collective agreement between workers and employers is a Danish tradition, and thereby has a nationally ingrained significance in the Danish society. This leads
to the second aspect, which
others, politicians
and
labor
is
the foundation
unions; and that
of Ryanair's received criticism from among is the fact
that
Ryanair has working
conditions that are below the Danish standards and is labeled as social dumping1. Despite that conflicts between foreign companies and workers are not something new in Denmark, the case of Ryanair is standing out due to it being the largest airline company in Europe, which therefore has caught the media’s attention from day one, while other conflicts have not been given the same attention (Henrik BayClausen, 3F Interview - see Appendix I). The fact that a company like Ryanair has been this successful in profit maximizing, even though it is known for providing low working conditions for its employ leads one to consider the how the business operates. Since Tony Ryan founded Ryan air in 1985 the business has since then been continually growing in regards to customers and profit. Today it is the largest airline-company within Europe, which operates more than 1600 daily flights from 72 bases, connecting 189 destinations in 30 countries. In 1985 Ryanair had 5000 passengers in total and in 2013 it had grown to 81,668,285 passengers2 . However, this success is despite the fact that Ryanair has been a company that have been having conflicts with almost al l the 1
http://www.flyvebranchen.dk/nyheder/2015/02/dlf-stoetter-flyvebranchens-personale-unions-(fpu)-bestraebelser-paaat-indgaa-overenskomst-med-ryanair/ - Last accessed: 27.05.2015 2 http://corporate.ryanair.com/about-us/history-of-ryanair/ - Last accessed: 27.05.2015
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
European countries in which it has established a base where a lot of he conflicts have been concerning Ryanair's treatment of the employees in terms of working conditions. This leads the project to consider how it is possible for Ryanair to operate as it does and still be this successful in order to due this the stakeholder theory by Freeman has been chosen as way to explain which factors that are affecting Ryanair and are important for the business to consider, namely he stakeholders. Within the considerations of the stakeholder related to the case of Ryanair in Denmark, labor unions have been proven to be a major factor within the problem. This is due to the Danish labor unions interest in the employees working conditions; however the interest is not mutual, as Ryanair rejects any agreements for its employees. Therefore, Danish labor unions have from the beginning of Ryanair's announcement of moving to Copenhagen been concerned for the conditions of the employee. It has lead to a debate of the challenges the Danish model is facing, - a model, which have been proved to be close in the minds of Danes 3 . As Anders Mark Jensen from the "Flyvebranchens Personal Union" (FPU) is stating; "It is of course also about, how they (Ryanair) is bringing the working conditions towards the employees to the Danish model, which creates a clash" (Anders Mark Jensen, FPU Interview - see Appendix II). This clash in working conditions have also been described with the term, namely; Social Dumping, which is what Ryanair is accused of causing in the airline industry. Thereby one needs to consider what can lead to the problems of the case of Ryanair in Denmark, in other words, what can lead to Ryanair is accused of causing social dumping. EU has established the market, within Ryanair is operating, through regulations have created what is known as the single market, which is build on the four freedom and have the aim to break down tariffs and restrictions on other EU member states (Cini, 2013). However, can it be possible to trace back in the history of the development of this single market, in order to find evidence that can prove the role of EU in regards to social dumping? Are
the key
points
of
the
single
market, namely; free
movement
of
labor,
mutual recognition and judicial activism directly related to the cause of business ability to using social dumping? 3
Fokus, Newspaq, Ritzau : Meningsmåling: Flest danskere vil bevare den danske model . In: Fagbladet 3f, 20.05.2015, p. 1-1. Available at: http://www.fagbladet3f.dk/nyheder/3b8747ba2fac49028d6614daec585f4a -20150520-meningsmling-flest-danskere-vilbevare-den-danske-model Last accessed:27.05.2015
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
It is known that one stakeholder group of Ryanair has grown within its history, namely; customers. Is it however possible for this group to affect Ryanair's strategy when it comes to it management of relationship towards its stakeholders, or should the problem of social dumping practical used by Ryanair, be prevented fro higher instances such as EU? The above issues of the case of Ryanair in Denmark, leads the project to the research question:
Research question How is it possible for Ryanair to challenge the Danish working conditions in the national airline industry and how can this be prevented?
Working questions 1. How is Ryanair operating as a business and handling their stakeholders’ relationships? This question is made in order to identify the different stakeholder groups' that have an influence on Ryanair's low-price strategy, which will lead to an analysis of how the different stakeholder groups affect Ryanair's position towards managing its relationship to its employees, in terms of working conditions. 2. How can the single market within the European Union contribute to social dumping and how can Ryanair utilize it? It is necessary to analyze upon how it is possible for Ryanair to operate as it does today in regards to its employees by finding evidence from the liberal market as it is this stakeholder group that has set up the rules for companies to operate across borders in the EU member countries. This knowledge is crucial in order to get a full understanding of the issue and thereby needs to be elaborated on.
3. What do consumers consider as important when buying airplane tickets? This question focuses on the stakeholder group 'consumers' as the previous working question has proved that it is the only stakeholder group that is, both a necessary and sufficient factor for Ryanair’s ability to operate as it does. If this stakeholder group prioritizes the employees’ working conditions highly then it will have an effect on Ryanair’s management of the employees. Furthermore, the analysis of this question will lead the project to
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
a discussion of the relationship between the consumers and employees of Ryanair to see whether there is a chance for the consumers to care more about the employees when getting enlightened and if so, what will the consequences for Ryanair in the perspective of creating value in the future be.
Research design To provide a comprehensive structure of this study, the project has been divided into three working questions, which all examine a separate aspect of the research question. In so, a holistic view upon the situation of Ryanair in Denmark should be achieved. Each working question after being analyzed will provide different part-conclusion that will lead the project to a discussion of how Ryanair may challenge the Danish working conditions and how this can be prevented. Based on this discussion, the research question will be answered in a final conclusion .
Methodology Philosophy of Social Science - Critical Realism Paradigm Epistemology is about how knowledge is gained to understand a specific situation and it concerns the question of
what
is
perceived
as
acceptable
knowledge (Bryman,
project utilizes an eclectic realist and interpretive epistemology known
from
2008: critical
13). This realism, with
the purpose of providing an account of the nature of scientific practices (Bryman, 2008: 14). Critical realism shares the fundamental understanding of realism, which believes that there exist an objective reality. However the objective reality is according to critical realism's ontology transcendental realistic, which Bashkar argues consists of three
dimensions;
1). Researchers
empirical
are
working in the
the empirical, the actual
layer, from where they
can
and the real strata (Fig. interpret the
actual
reality where e.g. social events occur and happens. From the actual reality, it is possible to understand elements of the real reality, which is also interpreted by the researchers (Easton, 2010: 119, 123). Furthermore, the paradigm believes that there exists a truth which can be found by identifying the structures and generative mechanisms that creates the society. There is an acknowledgement that, both qualitative and quantitative methods can be used to identify structures and generative mechanisms within the society. In other
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
words, the means to find the truth should be the same whether it is natural or social science (Bryman, 2008: 14). Thus, the empirical is the researchers that are examining the actual, which is the case of Ryanair operating in Denmark. This actual reality is part of the real as the researchers are researching upon a case that is a part of understanding the world.
Fig. 1 However, only some elements of the real reality or the "independent truth" can be found, which means that even though a reality is found it is only the truth until it is falsified by empirical data. Thus, it is important to clarify that according to critical realism, it is never possible to verify a hypothesis, only to falsify. Therefore the project’s hypotheses can only be falsified or accepted as the temporary true, by the empirical data. This does not limit the researchers but gives an awareness that the findings and the product of this research paper are solely a conclusion of that (Bryman, 2008: 14-15). What characterizes critical realism is its manifesto, which recognizes the objective reality, but also the events and discourses of the social world. However the events and discourses of the social world can only be understood if we identify the structures that create these events and discourses. The structures are not apparent in the empirical data and can only be identified through the practical and theoreti cal work of social science (Bryman, 2008: 14). In other words, what distinguishes critical realism from positivism is the acknowledgement of minor pieces, called the generative mechanisms, that creates the reality in the social world and which is possible to find by means of natural and social science. Through an empirical study, these generative mechanisms can be found, and when they are found the researchers are able to change these and thereby also the reality of the social world (Bryman, 2008: 15). To put it in context with the chosen topic, the research question "How is it possible for Ryanair to challenge the Danish working conditions in the national airline industry and how can this be prevented?" can provide the Danes and the world with the challenges that
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
are studied and concluded upon and give a possibility to understand the roots of the issue and thereby a solution
to
how
it
can
be
prevented
and
solved.
The chosen philosophy of social science, should not be perceived as a way of limiting the researchers, but it provides the project with a structured way of how to understand what Is knowledge, and also what the knowledge can tell about the problem of inquiry. Most important, the conclusion of the project will as stated above not be the objective truth, but can provide the researchers and others with an understanding of some of the world.
Research Approach This research paper takes a deductive approach since the project will study a specific case by investigating it by using a theory related to the subject. Furthermore, one hypothesis are deduced and must be subjected to empirical scrutiny (Bryman, 2008; 9) . The knowledge can be gained by means of theoretical considerations, and will be formulated into operational concepts in those hypotheses. Operational concepts are when the researchers clarify how empirical data can be collected in order to reject or accept the hypotheses. Furthermore the researchers' background knowledge of the problem of inquiry, can be changed by means of the knowledge that is gained through data collection or while analyzing these data. This point is crucial to mention, as many think of deduction as a linear approach, but it is not always the case in those studies (Bryman, 2008: 9). The process to get to the final research question has been prolonged since there are many variables in relation to the case of Ryanair in Denmark which is an actual and still ongoing case.However,one can argue that the researchers are using an inductive approach when it comes to the quantitative methods that are used in this project, but the overall approach is still deductive (Bryman,2008:911). The main hypothesis states that the single market in EU contributes to social dumping which Ryanair takes advantage of. Thereafter, the research was carried out by collecting data regarding the EU laws on the single market
and
what
it
says
about companies
operating
in
other
EU
member
countries. Furthermore, research on how Ryanair operates has been examined through its stakeholders by using the stakeholder theory and deduce several hypothesizes, in which the researchers believe to be crucial in order to understand the issue and derive a conclusion. This means that the project goes from a broad theory into using it
in
context
of the specific
case,
Ryanair
in
Denmark, to
understand
it thoroughly. This leads to a discussion and conclusion where the main hypothesis will be either accepted or falsified. Since the philosophy of social science in this project is critical realism, it is again crucial to clarify
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
that any hypothesis in this project will not be verified, only accepted as the temporary truth. (Bryman, 2008)
Case Study According to John Gerring, the case study method is correctly understood as a particular way of defining cases, not a way of analyzing cases or a way of modeling causal relations. The project is investigating a paradigmatic case, due to the fact that this sort of case is concerning an object that is the exemplar within the field this is suitable in this project since Ryanair is distinguished from the other companies within its field.
Process tracing as an applied method Process tracing is a qualitative analytical tool within case study. The method is chosen to be the dominated applied method and will help the project to investigate evidence in order to give a valid conclusion of the research question. According to Collier, the method is defined as being “a systematic examination of diagnostic evidence selected and analyzed in the light of research questions and hypotheses posed by the investigator” (Collier, 2011: 823). The researchers have a general idea, based on the prior knowledge, of what phenomena that are related to Ryanair such as consumers, employees, the European Union, labor unions – all examples of stakeholders. Furthermore the phenomena are seen as meriting analytical attention, if the researchers consider that the phenomenon has an effect on the quality of the project's conclusion. This is decided by considering the consequences of the phenomena being excluded from the subject matter. But how can the researchers identify those phenomena from prior knowledge and make sure that their absence in the project will affect the quality of the project? Collier stress a key point within process tracing, more specific, a tool of causal inference – that the method focuses on the unfolding of events or situations over time related to the case of inquiry (Collier, 2011). The reason why Collier stresses the importance of presenting a series of specific moments related to the case, is, that in order to characterize a process, the researchers must be able to characterize key steps in the process (Collier, 2011). Even though process tracing is a qualitative method, it can in some cases rely on quantitative information. This means that for this project, both qualitative and quantitative data were collected; interviews, reports etc., but
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
also a quantitative survey. The main point of the method is that it is based on hypotheses, which are made on the basis of the prior knowledge of the researchers. In making those hypotheses, three steps are taken;
Specification of hypotheses Distinctions among test Assumptions and interpretations.
Specification of hypotheses is the first step in finding the most appropriate tests for those hypotheses used in the method. The different tests are as followers in the right order.
Straw-in-the-Wind test Hoop tests Smoking-Gun tests Double Decisive tests Causal-Sequence Framework: Auxiliary Outcome Test
What characterize the specification of hypotheses is to find sufficient and necessary factors, which can be put in the overall hypothesis of the project; "Ryanair has an influence on the working conditions of national airline industry". Therefore, the researchers should consider different factors, that can be either sufficient or necessary or both and can be used in order to formulate various hypotheses. The researchers’ prior knowledge is important which is why a timeline of Ryanair’s events has been conducted in Appendix III. The timeline describes events that can be used to investigate the causal inference of the project's cas e, which means that events related to Ryanair but are unrelated to the case of Ryanair in Denmark are excluded (Collier, 2011: 825). Second step, distinctions among test is where the researchers look at the evidence from the time-line to distinguish what test can be used on what hypothesis. The choice of test depends on the sufficient and necessary factors of the hypothesis. What can be deduced from the tests is differen t. The tests are classified according to whether passing the test as necessary and/or sufficient for accepting the inference. Based on these criteria, if a given hypothesis passes a straw-in-the- wind test, it only slightly weakens rival hypotheses; with hoop tests it somewhat weakens them; with smoking-gun tests it substantially weakens them; and with doubly
decisive
tests
passing
eliminates
them
(Collier,
2011).
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
Assumptions and interpretationsare the third step where the evidence are considered in details. The different hypotheses are tested by process tracing through different events from the timeline and are interpreted in depth. For instance, if the researchers make a weak assumption about that a given event or other piece of evidence may be a coincidence, the researchers should be more cautious in the conclusion about accepting or rejecting the hypotheses. However, if it is a stronger assumption, which is based on prior knowledge, that the event is not a coincidence, then the conclusion about accepting or rejecting the hypothesis will be different (Collier, 2011: 826).
Data collection As stated earlier, according to critical realism, the approach to collecting data is the same whether it is natural or social science. Therefore, both quantitative and qualitative methods were used, also called mixed method. The quantitative data have been collected by a quantitative method, which consists of the selfconducted survey which has been analyzed by means of statistical programs. This data collection is more related to the positivistic approach of the project, as the quantitative data are perceived as empirical data that can be observed by using the senses. In order to make a questionnaire it is important to consider how questions are formulated in order to make them available as quantitative data. The
qualitative data
collections that have been used are both semi-structured
interviews and in
the interpretation of reports and articles. The researchers recognizes that generative mechanisms construct the reality that the project tries to find and is shown through the acknowledgement of interpretivism as an approach to study qualitative data. Thereby qualitative data where collected by the means of those above mentioned qualitative methods.
Expert- and semi-structured interviews Interviews are one of the used qualitative methods within the project. Having interviews is an useful method in a project research, as it makes it possible to investigate upon an issue in depth by discovering how the specific individuals perceive the specific issues given. Interviews can provide different understandings and angles, since each interviewee will give arguments from their expertise area. Expert interviews were chosen, as the
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
interviewees are used as representatives of their organization, party or working field and therefore has a special knowledge and experiences about their expertise area that suits this research paper 4.
Furthermore, there are different types of interviews and this project will make use of the semi-structured interview. Starting by formulating a series of questions as the general interview questions, which later will be accustomed to each of the interviewees. Thus the questions might vary since the questions are to fit perfectly with the specific interviewees’ expertise area, in order to utilize and get the most out of their knowledge upon the topic. A great advantage of semi-structured interviews is that the interviewer has room for latitude, which means that the interviewer can ask further questions in response to significant answers from the interviewees (Bryman, 2008: 196). It is important to clarify that even though the researchers have made use of semi-structured interviews, it have made sure that the interviews were not too structured. As to create a relaxed atmosphere instead of just having the interviewer asking several specific questions to the interviewee. Thus, extra room were provided for the interviewees to talk freely and be as detailed as possible about the specific situation. Hence an argument for not setting a timeframe for the interviews.
Interview process An overview of how the interview process has been handled will be explained in two different stages. First stage: The researchers are to determine what information is required in order to ensure useful information from the interviews. The information was to provide more knowledge and thereby a deeper understanding of:
Within Ryanair: A former worker telling about the working conditions and how the Ryanair operates
Views from labor-unions: What is the main criticism? What is wished to be fought and changed?
4
Li tti g, Beate: Expert Interviews. Methodology and Practice. In: UTA, Lecure Slides, 17.09.2013, pp. 128. Ava i lable a t: http://www.uta.fi/iasr/lectures/index/17.9.2013_Beate%20Littig_Tampere%20Expert-Intervi ews.pdf La st accessed: 27.05.2015
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
The researchers of this project made sure to ask the interviewees about whether they preferred to preserve anonymity in the project paper or not and whether they were al l right with being recorded or not. This was due to create a professional and trustful relation. Second stage: A decision upon the data collection method and place and length of the interviews. We wished to have face-to-face interviews in order to have a real conversation. We did not want to give a time limit of the interview since we wanted as detailed answers as possible. Lastly the interviews were transcribed (Bryman, 2008:473-477).
The interviewees We were interested in having views within Ryanair and outside Ryanair and agreed on selecting three interview ees:
Alessandra Cocca who is a formeremployee of Ryanair, stewardess.
Henrik Bak Clausen from Fagligt Fælles Forbund 3F, that is Denmark's biggest labor union with wage agreements on more jobs than any other union in Denmark 5 .
Flybranchens Personale Union, FPU that is an aircraft staff union of pilots, cabin crew, helicopter pilots and afis operators in Denmark and Greenland 6.
Survey There are many aspects and steps for conducting a survey. However, only the two following steps will be explained: 1. What we aim at getting out from the survey 2. Issues involved in selecting individuals for our survey research 5
3f: Om 3f. Publ ished by 3f. La st updated: 1.1.2015. Internetadress: http://www.3f.dk/om-3f - Last vi sited: 27.05.2015 (Internet)
6
Fl ybra nchen: Om FPU. Published by Flybranchen. Last updated: 1.1.2015. Internetadress:http://www.flyvebranchen.dk/om-fpu/ - La s t vi s i ted: 27.05.2015 (Internet)
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
The purpose of the conducted survey is to contribute to the analysis and discussion of Danes' flight habits and their
opinion
of
Ryanair,
thus
their perception as
potential consumers
of
Ryanair.
The survey is divided into five subject sections. The first section is about the respondent's background. The second section is about the respondents' flight habits in terms of what type of journeys they have and how long they are. The purpose with it, is to investigate, what consumers prioritize mostly when buying flight tickets . The third section is about the respondents' awareness and sense of responsibility. This is to have an idea of how much Danes think about the circumstances behind the products they buy, such as social dumping and child labor. The aim was to know more about the respondents ethical standpoints, when it comes to purchasing. This in order to see, if there is a chance of that Ryanair could loose consumers who perceive themselves as conscious. The fourth consists of a single question regarding what role and position the respondents believe that the Danish labor unions should have, which will be used to check if their opinion stems with the labor unions' current position, or if the role of the labor union should be reconsidered. This leads to the fifth section that is about Ryanair and whether an airline's reputation has an impact
on
the
consumers or not.
Here the respondents were informed about Ryanair's working
conditions and in order to determine whether knowledge would influence their willingness to buy. Thus, the survey will in general help us to accept or falsify the hypothesis that "Danes care more about price than any other category”. The construction of
the survey and
the reasons and hypothesizes behind the different questions are visualized in the following tables to give a more manageable understanding of the purpose of the survey, and what is expected to be analyzed upon.
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No.
Question
Questions about you: Q1 Age
Q2
Occupation
Q3
Annual income before tax
Q4
Level of Education
G enera l l y a bout a i r tra vel s : Q5 In what connection do you fly?
Roskilde University Spring 2015
Hypothes i s
Method
Reason
Multiple choice: Pick one Multiple choice: Pick one Multiple choice: Pick one Multiple choice: Pick one
To figure out the age range of the respondents
Multiple choice: Pick one
To find out in what connection the respondents fly
The experience with flights influences the overall opinion about different flight companies and what one finds important when flying
To figure what the respondents occupation is To figure out the range of the respondents income
The respondents’ general background can have an influence on their answers to the following questions
To figure out what the level of education of the respondents are
Q6
How many times have you flown within the last 3 years?
Slider
To find out how experienced the respondents are with air travels
The experience with flights, can have an influence, on what is valued on these flights (Q8)
Q7
How long is the length of your flights?
Multiple choice: Pick one Multiple choice: Pick max. 3
Determine length of flights
Determine the values of the respondents
The length of flights, can have an influence, on what is valued on these flights (Q8) The respondents’ values when flying, can influence the airline company chosen
Multiple choice: Pick one
To find out if the purpose for traveling as an influence on the respondents flight habits
The choice of destination might have an influence on the respondents flight habits, in relation it other factors
Slider
To find out how experienced the respondents are with air travels
The experience with flights, can have an influence, on what is valued on these flights (Q12/Q15)
Q8
What do you value the most when flying workrelated? Pri va te a i r tra vel s Q9 What are the primary reasons for your private flight travels? Q10
How many times have you flown within the last 3 years?
Q11
How long is the length of your flights?
Multiple Determine length of flights The length of flights, can have an choice: Pick influence, on what is valued on these one flights (Q12/Q15) Y ou a s cons um er ( pri va te tra vel s ) – on s hort route s /on m edi um l eng th- a nd l ong routes Q12/Q15 What do you value the Multiple Determine the values of the The respondents’ values when flying, can most when flying as a choice: Pick respondents influence the airline company chosen private person? max. 3 Q13/Q16 What would you pay for Multiple To determine the respondent’s This question should somehow be when buying plane tickets? choice: Pick value of price consistent with the respondents answer to one the former question (Q12/Q15), and will indicate if they prioritize values over price Q14/Q17 Does the reputation of the Multiple Enhances the level of the The notion of this will influence the rest of airline company influence choice: Pick respondents as conscious the respondents answers your choice of plane ticket? one consumers
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No.
Question
Method
Roskilde University Spring 2015
Reason
Hypothesis The conscious consumer, if valuing proper working conditions, would let his/her conscious determine a proper airline company, thus answering no to wanting to flying with Ryanair at the moment (Q24 and Q25) A conscious consumer would most likely also to a high degree feel that they could influence the behavior of companies
Consciousness and responsibility Q18
Are you a conscious consumer?
Multiple choice: Pick one
To figure out whether ones conscious dominates ones choices
Q19
To what degree do you feel that you, as a consumer, has a responsibility to ensure that companies do not use e.g. child labor/social dumping? What do you believe should be the most important for an airline company to focus on?
Multiple choice: Pick one
Determine whether the respondents feel they have a say in regard to business decisions
Multiple choice: Pick one
To determine the respondents highest valued subject
Q20
This answer will reflect the respondents position, in terms of morals
The labor-unions role in the business community Q21
When is it appropriate for a labor-union to get involved in a company’s working conditions?
Multiple choice: Pick several
To figure out what the respondents believe the labor unions role should be, and if it the same as the unions current role
If the answers to this questions are the same as the labor unions current role, it will show that Danes are supporting the Danish model
Text box
To figure out how enlighten the respondents are
Knowledge will affect there respondents answer to Q24. If a true conscious consumer, the answer to Q24 should be no, if knowing about the situation of the company Own experiences will have an influence on whether wanting to fly with the company again Knowledge about the former questions will determine the answer to this one
Ryanair as a company Q22
What do you know about Ryanair and its employees?
Q23
Have you ever flown with Ryanair?
Multiple To figure out if the respondents choice: Pick has been/are costumers of one Ryanair Q24 If you had the opportunity, Multiple Determine whether the would you fly with Ryanair choice: Pick respondents prior to the survey (again)? one would fly with Ryanair Ryanair has been criticized for not having decent working conditions for their employees. Among others for giving their employees a monthly salary of 10.000kr before tax, not giving pay during illness/maternity leave, employee paid education and uniforms, a nd having a resignation fee the first year. Q25 After being aware of such, Multiple To see if the respondents If the respondents are conscious consumers would you then buy a ticket choice: Pick answered has changed after and/or prioritizes personal believes over at Ryanair? one getting the above information price, then they would respond no or only if they change the conditions
Consciousness and responsibility Q26
How much do you think consumers can influence Ryanair on the global market?
Slider
To see whether their earlier answers regarding the matter also applies outside Denmark
This question should somehow be consistent with the respondents answer to Q19
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Sample type and the respondents As the project concerns the case of Ryanair in Denmark, the survey is about what is perceived as important when buying flight tickets. This means that a probability sample was used in which there will be made interferences from information about a random sample of the population from which it was selected. Thus, it was possible to generalize findings derived from the sample to the population (Bryman, 2008:177). The questionnaire was reached out through facebook, work-related interportals (Planday), and e-mails. Furthermore we reached out to more people in public where we handed them out at train stations (Bryman, 2008: 481).
Validity
In many ways, the most important criterion for research is validity. Triangulation is a way of using more than one method or source of data in the study, in order to cross-check and thereby increase validity of the research. Triangulation have been used in different ways within this project, namely; researchers-, data and methods triangulation (Bryman, 2008: 379).
In regards to observational triangulation, is mean that the researchers of the project have interpreted the same results. By analyzing the same case, the researchers were able to discuss the outcomes and in turn come to a shared conclusion. This type of triangulation has increased the validity of the findings and arguments made in the project. Moreover, in order to further strengthen the validity and reliability of the paper, multiple data sources have been employed, such as; articles, thesis/reports of EU, survey data and statements from interviews. Also the mix of methods, in regards to qualitative and quantitative, have improved the validity as the combination gets the researcher to exploit several aspects of the case, as the use of quantitative method leads the project to findings that could otherwise not have been found by the use of only qualitative method (Denzin 1984, in Tellis 1997). Additionally, after each interview we made sure to ask the interviewees about whether they wanted to look through the transcripts and approve them or not. never the case (Bryman, 2008, pp. 476-477)
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Demarcations A crucial limitation is that the researches of the project have not been able to get a statement from Ryanair and get their opinion on the criticism and their point of views on what they believe the critics have misunderstood. Furthermore, it would be a great opportunity to interview some of the current employees and listen to their opinion about the whole Ryanair conflict and lack of working conditions. The whole issue is primarily about the employees, thus it is crucial to get their point of view.(Bryman, 2008: 215-229) Another demarcation of the project methods is in regards to the use of semi-structured interviews. Even though the data reached by conducting those interviews are perceived as valid and very important for the researchers' understanding, repetitions of the interviews could have increased the validity of that empirical data. This is due to the fact, that if the researchers had conducted several interviews with the experts, then there would had been a chance of that if they were asked the same questions with some time apart, new information or opinions could occur about the problem of inquiry. However, due to a limit in time, this was not done and can be argued to be a demarcation of the validity in the empirical data reached though the interviews.
Another limitation is concerning the interdisciplinary of the project which could be stated to limit the project dimension focuses as the researchers have had to go through all of the three subjects, Business studies, international studies and communication and thus have not been able to fully immerse into the specific disciplines.
Theory chapter Stakeholder Theory The stakeholder theory has been chosen in order to analyze Ryanair’s relationship towards its stakeholders. Ryanair is defined as having a capitalistic approach to profit maximization, which in traditional business theories is characterized as excluding ethics from business decisions. Most theories within business studies separate ethical decisions from business strategy decisions; however it is argued to be the problem within ethics of capitalism (Freeman et al, 2010: 6). Therefore the responsibility principle, where people accept the responsibility to the effects of their actions on others, has been put into Page 19 of 121
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question to highlight the importance of not separating business from ethics. If businesses do make decisi ons without considering ethics within the decisions, the moral responsibility does not exist – hence business ethics is oxymoron (Freeman et al, 2010: 8). However some businesses still do practice the decision -making process without considering ethics, and act opportunistically. It is crucial to remember the groups, who are a part of the value creation of the business in this process as have, more or less an impact on the decision -making of the business, namely the stakeholders (Freeman et al, 2010: 8-9). The stakeholder theory is different from Milton Friedman’s traditional view upon stakeholders, in the scope of maximizing profit. Friedman argues that the maximizing of profit in the long run, is about participating in the free competition and engage in activities designed to increase the profit, in this way the stakeholders interests are best covered. However, the stakeholder theory instead argues that businesses must practice and maintain good relationships to the stakeholders, by making sure that products and services are of high quality and suppliers, and employees also have an interest in ensuring that the company is doing well. Hence stakeholder management will lead to a sustainable maximizing of the profit (Freeman et al, 2010: 11). However what both the stakeholder theory and Friedman agree upon, is that business and capitalism are not about social responsibility. But, the theory is about business and value creation and economics may not be fundamentally a part of value creation. Furthermore it is managerial – which means the stakeholder theory can be used in practice by managers – in this case the CEO of Ryanair, Michael O'Leary (Freeman et al, 2010: 12). Furthermore, what makes Friedman’s view upon stakeholder theory interesting in this project, is that it to a high extend are similar to the perception of CEO, Michael O'Leary. Capitalism is according to Friedman associated with freedom – and individuals have a responsibility not to destroy this. When businesses provide goods or devote resources to communities, it cannot be regarded as social responsibility, as it is according to Friedman, actions that are entirely justified in its self-interest (Freeman et al, 2010: 10-11). The above leads to the discussion; what would happen if a business like Ryanair, that practices a strategy which is effective in maximizing profit, tried to implement the views of the stakeholder theory? As Ryanair does not seem to recognize that, an improvement in their stakeholder relationships might, in the long run, create a more sustainable value (Freeman et al, 2010: 9).
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To sum up, the stakeholder theory can provide the project with a different view upon why it is important to satisfied all stakeholder groups of Ryanair, with the focus on the employees and consumers, i n order to create value (Freeman et al, 2010: 224-229).
Applied communication theories in the project Professor Robert Craig (1999) suggest that the field of communication, can be seen as coherent, if communication is understood as a practical discipli ne, and can thus be divided into seven traditions that conceptualizes different communication practices and problems. To understand these, the project will primarily utilize Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis, CDA as a theory to substantiate the meth odological choices of critical realism, arguing that social practices and events are created and reproduced through the use of language, but that truth and/or reality can however not be found through discourses only. CDA, does like critical realism therefore not understand discursive practices as one-dimensional, but rather as a dialectical relationship between multiple dimensions or moments of social practice. Hence, arguing for the existence of non-discursive dimensions. This is supported by Sayer, who is a critical realist, saying that “knowledge is also largely—though not exclusively—linguistic, and the nature of language and the way we communicate are not incidental to what is known and communicated. Awareness of these relationships is vital in evaluating knowledge”(Sayer, 1992: 5). Furthermore, while other discourse theories tend to have an analytical focus on either the individuals’ everyday discourse (‘small “d”’) or a more general and abstract discourse (‘big “D”’) (Jørgensen and Phillips, 2002: 19-20), Fairclough argues that: “*…+ discourse analysis is concerned with the relationship between processes/events and practices (as well as structures), texts and discourses (as well as genres and styles), and therefore in the terms of the distinction use d by Keenoy and Oswick *2004+ the relationship between ‘big “D”’ and ‘small “d”’ discourses” (Fairclough, 2005: 919-920). Due to the above it is implied that CDA and critical realism in the notion of constructing and understanding of social events, can be argued to be similar. It could thus be argued that CDA, in this project, is a theoretically extension of critical realism, as a theory is needed to validate and substantiate the researchers analyzes approach. As process tracing is investigating the causes of events and stakeholders are focusing on the relationship between different discourse, and both acknowledge the power of discourses. From a theoretical view CDA will be utilized implicit throughout the project, as the researchers uses and takes the ke y premises of
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
discourse analysis into consideration when analyzing. The key premises are ; (1) A critical approach to taken-forgranted knowledge (2) historical and cultural specificity (3) link between knowledge and social processes, and (4) link between knowledge and social actions (Jørgensen and Phillips, 2002: 5-6). A full analysis will however be conducted on the communication issues regarding why Ryanair’s employees do not unite and complain about their working conditions, if they believe they are not good enough and/or up to standards, as if this was the case, the problems with Ryanair, might not have been as it is today. To understand and analyze this issue, the causes for the discourse will be mapped, such as being bounded by contract, the organizational hierarchy, social inheritance and thus others expectations to the employees, in order to conduct Fairclough’s CDA. When using CDA as a method for analysis, the dialectical relationship between the communicative event and the order of discourse are analyzed. The latter, Fairclough defines as a combination of different discourses, different genres and different styles, which are articulated together in a distinctive way (ibid: 925). Whereas the former, being an example of language use, which consist of the three dimensions, namely text, discursive practice and social practice. The analysis of the communication event (see figure below), should analyze the texts level, speeches, writings and visual images, as in for instance Ryanair’s press releases, th e contract with their employees or the employees visual expression and body language towards the costumers. The text should afterwards be analyzed in regards to how it influences the production and the consumption of the text (discourse practice). It is within this practice that individual, social and cultural discourses changes, as the discourse practice is the step where we either accept or falsify text, by reproducing the text or combine it with other discourses, so it makes sense to the interpreter. Val idating the text is usually drawn on experience or a combination of different discourses; the order of discourse. After reckoning whether the current order of discourse has been reproduced or restructured by the discursive practice, the level of social pra ctice needs to be considered, both how it has affected the discourse and how the discourse will affect the social practice (Jørgensen and Phillips, 2002: 67-68). To clarify the dialectical relationship between the communicative event and the order of discourse, it should be understood that for every social event there will be one or more discourses that one needs to unconsciously decide to accept of falsify. This result in a change in one’s discourse, a so- called antithesis which will then again be changed when accepting or falsifying yet another order of discourse.
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Fig. 3 Fairclough’s three-dimensional model for critical discourse analysis (1992b:73) When utilizing CDA the researchers need to be aware of the criticism of the theory. One of the pr oblems occurring is the wage distinction between discursive and non-discursive; a distinction of these will therefore be conceptualized(Jørgensen and Phillips, 2002: 89) . Another critique of the theory or in general the social constructivist argument for the construction of social events is that there are no constraints, consistency or regularities in social life. However this is not an issue as the belief in critical realism argues that only social phenomena are socially constructed, hence there are structures and mechanism from other dimensions that invisibly contributes to fundamental structures (Ibid.: 6).
Lastly, whether there is a clash between the consumer’s position regarding Ryanair and their flight habits, will also be analyzed. In order to investigate this, a hypothesis was conducted: Consumers will in public primarily represent and put forward the socially adopted position regarding Ryanair, but in private the consumer could be of a different opinion. The argumentation behind this hypothesis rest on the preliminary conclusion, that if the majority of the Danish consumer’s have the same official and private negative attitude towards Ryanair, thus supporting the attitude of the mass media, then Ryanair would not be as successful as it currently is, as it could be argued that the consumer’s would then not support Ryanair, by buying their tickets, if we are to believe that the consumer has an influence on a company’s success.
This would therefore denote, if the hypothesis is
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accepted, then the project would have found indications of consumers buying plane tickets from Ryanair, even though they do not approve of their business strategies. If these indications are to be found, Meyrowitz’ modified version of Goffman’s dramaturgical theory will be used to substantiate the hypothesis and understand the context in which people unconsciously perform and act when interacting with others.
Dramaturgical theory Goffman's dramaturgical theory, also known as front region/back region-theory argues that people put on a performance, social role when interacting with others, in order to adapt to the specific social situation, an d act accordantly. These performances can be classified into a front region (where the performance is similar to the performance of an actor on a stage projecting an image of a specific character) or a back region (to be shared with others (teammates) with similar front stage performances and roles as oneself (the performer)) (Goffman, 1967; Meyrowitz, 1990). Hence the reality of self, as individuals and as a society, is segregated in the existing patterns of situations and not as a sum of our behaviors. Me yrowitz disagree with the latter notion and argues that the pattern of situation segregation should be seen as a variable, instead of static, and could be modified by individual life decisions, chance and by other forces e.g. mass media (Meyrowitz, 1990: 74). On that notion he introduces a middle, deep back and forefront region, as variable models. The middle region merges elements from former front- and back regions, as the individual actor develops a ‘common ground’ with the audience from the front stage. The deep back and forefront regions, Meyrowitz argues are developed “when performers gain increased isolation from their audience". The new separation of situations allow for both a coarser backstage style and a more pristine onstage performance” (Meyrowi tz, 1990: 78). Last, Meyrowitz expands Goffman’s notion of the theory being bounded (restricted) by physical locations, as Goffman argues that communicative events should happen face-to-face, to also be applicable to any other communicative platform (ibid.).
So, if there are evidences indicating that consumers differs in opinion, it will on the background of the theory, indicate that people has a need to feel socially accepted in the social situations they interact in. Thus unconsciously or consciously they put forward an act, as they see fitting for the situation. In this case, the
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consumer will then try to seem conscious in their discourse, to please the mass media and thus the society’s position toward Ryanair. It should be noted that this behavior is not be confused with indications of consciously lying, but rather an unconscious need to not stand out.
Conceptualization To avoid confusions or misunderstandings in the project’s terminology, the following concepts will be clarified or defined in the way they are used in this project.
The sixth stakeholder groups
The definition of a stakeholder, is a person or group which has an interest in the organization, in this project; Ryanair as a business. Furthermore the stakeholder group can affect or be affected by the business' actions.7
The project has identified five groups of stakeholders, that are all having an influence and are related to the case.
First, it is necessary to explain what is meant when the project refers to: "Ryanair is saying or doing Furthermorer, the following stakeholder groups related to Ryanair are namely; employees, consumers, EU and labor unions in Denmark.
Working conditions:
Working conditions are defined as salaries and conditions that are in accordance with other employees within the same branch in the country one work in . In Denmark, working conditions are different within the industries, but there are some general assumptions, namely; the salary is high enough to cover living expenses
7
Business Dictionary: Stakeholder, definition. Published by Business Dictionary. Last updated: 1.1.2015. I:http://www.businessdicti onary.com/definition/stakeholder.html – Last accessed: 27.05.2015
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in Denmark. Furthermore, employees are paid under sickness and maternity. There is a maximum of hour to work per week, for the paid worker and furthermore payment to pension is deducted in one's salary (Interview, 3F)
Product and service: It is in this project important to make a clear definition and thereby a distinction between product and service. Products are defined as tangible with intangible attributes, such as what the costumer gains fro purchasing the product.8 However, the project does argue that Ryanair is providing customers with services rather than products, even though one is buying a ticket. The reason is, that service is perceived as intangible, that cannot be stored or transported and comes into existence when it is bought and consumed.9
Consumers (general) vs. Costumers (Buyers of Ryanair's products) The consumers should be understood as every person that could be using commercial air transportation for travelling work-related or as a private person, whereas costumers are understood as th e actual users of Ryanair.
Rule shopping The project is defining this concept in accordance with the Danish Ministry of Transport. Here it is stated that there is differences in the EU countries' legislations and regulation in several aspects of the l egal framework. These are among other things in regards to, conditions within employment law, rights of the wage-earner, obligations of the employer etc. additionally, there do among the member states exist a difference in the way that for instance the employers' responsibility and the concept 'employer' is perceived in terms of both taxes and social security. Rule shopping is therefore defined to be situations where EU airline companies used to 8
Business Dictionary: Product, definition. Published by Business Dictionary. Last updated: 1.1.2015. Internetadress: (http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/product.html ). - Last visited: 27.05.2015 (Internet) 9 Business Dictionary: Services, definition.Published by Business Dictionary. Last updated: 1.1.2015. Internetadress: (http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/services.html). - Last visited: 27.05.2015 (Internet)
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make the employment structures, terms of employment and the structure of the company, in regards to the differences there are in the member states and therefor the term shopping (Danish Transport authority, 2015:9-10).
Social dumping Social dumping is having a key role in this project, as Ryanair is being accused of leading to social dumping. Thereby it is deemed necessary to conceptualize it and also get an understanding of its role in EU and the consequences. The concept is chosen to be defined by the perception of Magdalena Bernaciak ( “Magdalena holds MA degrees in International Relations/ European Studies and in Political Science. She completed her PhD studies in Political Science at Central European University, Budapest.” European Trade Union Institue: Magdalena Bernaciak . Publiced by: etui.. Available at: https://www.etui.org/About-Etui/Staff/MagdalenaBernaciak - Last accessed: 27.05.2015 (Internet), as she is recognizing the problem of not having a clear definition of the important concept within EU, which has caused several problems for many citizens. The concept social dumping has, according to Magdalena Bernaciak not been defined in an academic manner, due to the concept being associated with a great deal of "misconception and ill grounded accusation" (Bernaciak,2014:4-5) Bernaciak has defined social dumping as "the practice, undertaken by self-interested market participants, of undermining or evading existing social regulations with the aim of gaining a competitive advantage” (Bernaciak,2014:4).
The Danish Model The Danish Model was founded in 1899 with the September Agreement and attracted attention beyond Europe. The September Agreement laid the foundation for the current labor market of today - a labor market where the relationship between employers and trade unions are thoroughly regulated and almost without government interference. The employers and employees have a great impact on the employment policy, wages and working conditions which is central in the Danish Model. The Danish model is divided into three parts 10 :
10
Septemberforl i get: Den da ns ke model . Publ i ced by LO. Ava i l a bl e a t:http://www.lo.dk/omLO/LOshistorie/storebegivenheder/septemberforl i get_denda ns kemodel .a s px - La s t a cces s ed 27.05.2015 (Internet)
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• Tripartite Cooperation which is about the whole employment policies that are sent for consultation to the labor market’s collaborators can be a part of the negotiations of the policies. • Collective agreements which means that the state does not interfere in the regulation of wages and working conditions unless the labor market’s parties are not able to solve the problems themselves. Furthermore, the parties in a collective agreement will on the employee’s side often be a collectivity of the employees in the form of trade unions, while on the employer can be the individual employer or an employers' organization. In the collective agreements the wages and working conditions are regulated within the different industries and functions as rules for the employees’ employment. If disagreements about the rights occur the employee or the labor-union may present the case to the ordinary courts. • High level of organization. In order for the agreement system to work it is essential that there is a high degree of organization. Around 80 percent of Danish employees are members of a labor-union. Thus there are rules of what a labor-union shall provide with such as the right to start collective fight methods such as strikes, sympathy conflicts and blockades. Also, it has a peace obligation, which means that it is not legal to make work stoppages, as long as there is a collective agreement in force and to make sure that there is a duration of the agreement and termination. Lastly, if there are violations of the agreement it must be brou ght to the Labor Court11.
Airline industry in Denmark The airline industry is basically international and cross-bordered and the rules regulated for the airline industry is also agreed upon on the international level through International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO which is the UN organization for international civil aviation. Denmark can double tax individuals who are living in Denmark and has an income from work aboard, on an aircraft from the other agreement country. This means that Ryanair employees who work in Denmark and recieves an Irish salary will not have same living conditions
11
Den da ns ke model . Publ i ce by: Bes kæfti gel s es mi ni s teri et. Ava i l a bl e a t: :http://bm.dk/da/Beskaeftigelsesomraadet/Arbejds ret/Det%20a rbejds retl i ge%20omra a de/Den%20da ns ke%20model .a s px -La s t a cces s ed: 27.05.2015 (Internet)
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as other Danes as they will have to pay double from their salary, which is what concerns the labor unions. (Danish Transport authority,2015:13)
Treaties: The treaties are the legal framework in the Union. Every decision that is taken here is founded on the treaties (European Union: EU treaties. Publiced by: European Union. Available at: http://europa.eu/eu -law/decisionmaking/treaties/index_en.htm - Last accessed: 27.05.2015 (Internet)) These consist of the Treaty of the functioning of the European Union,TFEU and the treaty of the European Union, TEU. TEU describes the areas in which the member states will extend the policies to and areas of operation (Foste r,2014:4-5) While TFEU “(…)organizes the functioning of the Union and determines the areas of, delimitation of, and arrangements for exercising its competences” article 1 TFEU
The single market The single market was introduced twenty years ago with the adoption of the Single European Act in 1986. It is stemming from the idea that the European Union (EU) should be treated as one territory. The purpose is thus to stimulate competition and improve efficiency. The way to achieve this is by letting peop le, goods, services and money in the EU interact freely. This is believed by the EU to cause prosperity and to fuel economic growth12 . Furthermore, to consider the integration process of the Union in the single market, it is important to be aware of that it has been an ongoing process for decades. It started out with the idea that six Western European countries should unify their economics in the mid 1950's. A report called the 'Spaak Report' was made to outline three core elements of the market. One element was that the protective barriers should be eliminated in order to establish normal standards of competition. Another element was to limit state intervention and monopolistic conditions. The final element was aiming at introducing measures that would ensu re that the
12
Europa .eu: Wha t is the s i ngl e ma rket. Publ i s hed by Europa. La s t upda te: 03.08.2012. Ava i lable:http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/20yea rs /s i ngl ema rket20/fa cts -fi gures /wha t-i s -the-s i ngl e-ma rket_en.htm - La s t a cces s ed:12.05.2015 (Internet)
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competition was organized and clear, a possible outcome would be that the legislation was harmonized at the European level (Cini, 2013: 255). The single market is today built on the 'four freedoms'. Which is as followers: First, there is the free movement of goods, which largely is about the removal of trade barriers in several aspects. Second, the free movement of capital, entailing that there should be freedom of investment, in order to let the capital go to the place where it would be most productive. This is, however subject to some restrictions. Third, free movement of services is largely the right to start a business anywhere in the Union. Fourth, concerning the free movement of labor, due to the projects focus this area will be elaborated more in depth (Cini, 2013: 256).
Free movement of labor The freedom of movement of EU citizens will be considered, in order to elaborate on how different EU nationals can work in different member states. However it is important to clarify that t here is no clear definition of the term ‘worker’ in the Treaties, but there is a common agreement between the member states that: "A worker is any employed person, irrespective of whether he is wage-earning or salaried, blue collar or white collar, an executive or unskilled labourer" (Foster, 2014: 367). In generic terms, freedom of movement allows citizens of the EU to move around and to reside in and receive same rights and access to the social services, such as health care and education, as the nationals in the specific EU member state. Freedom of movement is one of the founding principles of the EU. The EU laws were originally concerned with the free movement of economically active persons before European citizenship was introduced 13. It involved free movement for workers and self-employed only. The EU has among other things, expanded the range of persons who can take advantage of the treaty provisions and has provided rights for non -economically active members of a worker’s family (Foster, 2014: 367). The former Treaty Articles on free movement of persons stem from around 1957. The Article treaties concerning free movement have hardly changed, but have expanded due to the secondary and the judicial legislations. It is however important to elaborate on what the free movement of person means and which rights the citizens are granted (Foster, 2014:360-361). The citizens of the EU member states are provided with 13
EU citizenship. Publiced by European Comission. Last at:http://ec.europa.eu/justice/citizen/ Last accessed: 27.05.2015 (Internet)
updated:
05.11.2014.
Available
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certain rights which are mentioned in the treaties. Important articles to consider here are: Article 3 TEU, Article 20 TFEU (Foster, 2014: 362) and Article 26 TFEU. These Treaty Provisions mention that the union shall offer its citizens an area of freedom, security and justice, without internal borders in which the free movement is ensured. However, there are two aspects that must be fulfilled in order to benefit from the rules provided for freedom of movement (Foster, 2014: 366): 1
Nationality, Article 45 TFEU
2
The person, Article 49 TFEU
In order to benefit from the rights of free movement, one has to be categorized as a worker which is either by being a self-employed, or someone who has established themselves, or provided services in a host member state. Additionally, to achieve this status one needs to be considered as a national of one of the member states in the EU. In Article 56 TFEU, it refers to the right of nationals of member states either by establishing or providing services in the host member states. Thus, one must note that companies that are registered in one of the member states are also included within the personal scope of the rights and may also rely on free movement rights under article 45, as an employing company (Foster, 2014: 366-367). Furthermore, Article 49 TFEU refers to the management of firms and companies. Article 54 TFEU is about those firms and companies, that are referred to in 49 TFEU, that are formed in accordance with the law of a member state and which have their registered office, central administration or principal place of business within the Union. It also includes companies and firms that are constituted under civil or commercial law. However, member states may impose conditions or restrictions on companies wishing to transfer, move, or split their registered office to another state for, for instance tax advantages. This is because company laws are not harmonized and are still within the competence of the member states. (Foster, 2014: 376).
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Neoliberalism Neoliberalism is believed to have been playing a dominant role since the 1970’s in the world. An overall definition of neoliberalism is provided by Bourdieu 14, who defined neoliberalism as being “(…) A programme for destroying collective structures which may impede the pure market logic” (Braithewaite,2005:2). However, if one understands neoliberalism in an institutionally manner it should, according to Braithewaite , (John Braithwaite is a Distinguished Professor and Founder of RegNet 15 simply be understood as privatization and deregulation of the market. Furthermore, with the addition of a deregulated international trade regime and a diminishing of the public sphere. (Braithewaite, 2005: 2-3).
Regulated capitalism This is built on the idea that the labor force is divided between on one hand the state, and on the other society in particular the business aspect. This is based on the notion that there should be intervention in the market, by for instance the government. These interventions can be in terms of rulemaking and rule enforcements in the market. Additionally, an important aspect in regulated capitalism is the believe, in contrast to neoliberalism, that the market is not left to control itself. This is due to the fact, that regulated capitalism believes that the states has a significant role in this regard. The state is in regulated capitalism steering the market, while the business is in control of the functions of the service provisions and technological innovation. The emergence of regulated capitalism and the role that the states has here is perceived as being essential, if the state should be broad back in the globalized world (Levi -Faur, 2015: 201).
14
A profes s or i n s oci ol ogy Gyl denda l Den Store Da ns ke: Pi erre Bourdi eu.publ i ced by: Gyl denda l . Ava i l a bl e a t:http://www.denstoredanske.dk/Sa mfund,_jura _og_pol i ti k/Soci ol ogi /Soci ol oger/Pi erre_Bourdi eu La s t a cces s ed: 27.05.2015 (Internet) 15 the Regulatory Institutions Network) a t the Aus tra l i a n Na ti ona l Uni vers i ty John Bra i thwa i te. publ i ced by ANU. a s t up da ted: 17.12.2014. Ava i l a bl e a t:http://www.a nu.edu.a u/fel l ows /jbra i thwa i te/ - La s t a cces s ed 27.05.2015 (Internet)
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
Judicial activism Judicial activism, is where the court finds places in the EU where there are vagueness or gaps in the existing EU law, which will lead to it expanding its power and role (Cini,2013:397). The Court of Justice was consulted by the firms in cases where the firms wanted to have clarified whether a restriction that a member state had made on imports were legitimate in accordance to the treaty (Cini,2013:257) .
Mutual recognition Mutual recognition was a solution to the problem that the decision in this area were taken by unanimity, meaning that all countries needed to agree on the policies. However, in a response to the difficulties and disagreements the countries were facing when trying to harmonize the market, the mutual recognition principle was introduced. This is the principle, that if a product is sold in one EU country it is allowed in other member states, even though it does not live up to the technical standards of the country- with some exceptions if for instance the country believes that the product is damaging for the health. Thereby the member states do not have to come to an agreement of the standards and regulations that are on the products which has been causing many conflicts among the member states. Now each member states are allowed to make their own regulations and set the standards of the products, which is essential in order for the reducing of barriers and to give the firms the necessary field in which they can operate in. This is a way to prevent a 'race to the bottom', since a lack of regulations for products and process standards might cause the countries to compete with one another in different aspects. (Cini,2013: 257,399).
Analytical chapter
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
Ryanair's struggle with the Danish labor unions Since Ryanair in March 2015 started operating in Copenhagen there have been tensions between Ryanair and Danish labor-unions. It is a threat to the agreement tradition in Denmark where employees and employers interact through large collective agreements, known as the Danish model (3F interview). Ryanair refuse to follow the labor-unions proposals and meeting with trade-unions is in no way customary for Ryanair has had issues with almost all of the 30 countries in which it has established a base, however it is rare that the management of Ryanair meets with the labor unions. Denmark is one of the exceptions but it was a failure, since Ryanair refused to make any collective agreements, which was he aim of the meeting. Ryanair’s denial of negotiating Danish agreements with the labor-unions has resulted in the trade-unions announcing a sympathy action against Ryanair16. However, the Danish labor unions are not sure whether a sympathy confli ct is legal, and therefore the Danish labor court has to decide upon this question. The Danish labor unions are one of the sixth stakeholder groups of Ryanair considered in this project, as it is believed that they have an influence on how Ryanair is ope rating as a business in Denmark and its relationship towards the employees 17. The hypothesis; "The Danish labor-unions will change Ryanair's management of its relationship towards its employees" is made as it is known by the researchers, that Ryanair's rel ationship towards labor unions have always been a known as key issue for the business. However, the researchers do from the beginning not perceive the labor unions as a sufficient factor for explaining how the relationship between Ryanair and its employees can be improved, but as a necessary factor, whereas the Hoop test is chosen. In order to test the hypothesis, a clarification of the Danish labor-unions' role in Denmark must be given through an analysis of their actions towards Ryanair with the help of the survey’s answers to the questions about Danes perception of the labor-unions' role in Denmark and in the Ryanair case. When an airline establishes a base in a country, it means that the employees will live in the country where the base is located. Therefore it is crucial that wages are at a level, where fixed expenses can be covered, such as; rent for living, food, insurance/payment to doctor visit etc. As mentioned, it is rare for Ryanair to have meetings with labor-unions and negotiate upon a collective agreements between themselves as employers, 16
Fl ybra nchen: Spørgs må l og s va r omkri ng Rya na i r. Publ i s hed by Fl ybra nchen. La s t upda ted: 1.05.2015. Interneta dres s : http://www.fl yvebra nchen.dk/nyheder/s poergs ma a l -og-s va r-omkri ng-rya na i r/ - La s t vi s i ted:27.05.2015 (Internet) 17
http://www.fl yvebra nchen.dk/nyheder/s poergs ma a l -og-s va r-omkri ng-rya na i r/ - La s t a cces s ed 27.05.2015
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
and their employees. However, Ryanair agreed to met with the three labor-unions: Service Federation, Flybranchens Personale Union (FPU) and landsorganisationen LO on the 20 th of February in Copenhagen. The meeting did not change anything, as labor-unions are still standing firmly in their fight for higher wages and better working conditions for the employees who work in Danish Ryanair bases in order to have the same conditions as any other Dane living in Denmark. According to Ryanair, it is the first time that they are being forced to enter an agreement for a service that they provide for a country. Ryanair’s personnel director Eddie Wilson blames the Danish labor-unions for being old-fashioned by giving employees a high salary for few working hours. He believes that it should be the other way around. In order to increase the effectivity of the employees and achieve growth in the airline industry, the workers should be paid a high wage for more working hours, thus, the labor-unions do not take effectivity into consideration 18. The labor-unions are planning a sympathy blockade that means that all of their members must not work for Ryanair which means that Ryanair will not get its luggage handled, nor receive refuel or catering. Sympathy conflicts are an ingrown part of the Danish labor model but Ryanair is confident about them acting illegally within the EU-laws if Ryanair is hit by one. Furthermore, Wilson states that they have all become members of the EU to achieve freedom and fewer rules to the benefit of the consumers. He further states that the Danish model supports extortion of people by enter into agreements that they do not want to and thereby destroy their businesses and prevent their country in having new working places which is not in line with the EU laws 19. LO has therefore taken the case to the Labor Court in Denmark which is now dealing with the question of whether it is legal for labor-unions to expose a sympathetic blockade against Ryanair, if they refuses to sign a collective agreement with FPU for its flying personnel in Denmark or not. If the Danish Labor Court validates a sympathy blockade against Ryanair, Ryanair intends to take further action to the EU Court, as they are convinced that the EU will conclude that the Danish model is not in accordance to the EU laws (ibid.)
18
Faurfelt, Rikke: http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Penge/2015/03/09/151259.htm. In: DR, 9.3.2015, p. 1-1. Interneta dres s : http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Penge/2015/03/09/151259.htm La s t vi s i ted: 27.05.2015 (Arti cl e) 19 Lund, Michael og Nina Munch-Perrin: Ryanair vil have 'den danske model' for EU-domstol. I: DR, 9.3.2015, p. 1-1. Interneta dres s : http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Penge/2015/03/08/160514.htm. La s t vi s i ted:27.05.2015 (Arti cl e )
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
Labor-unions’ role in Denmark and in the Ryanair case In the survey, the Danish consumers were asked a question regarding their perception of the labor-unions' role in the Danish society “When is it suitable for a labor-union to intervene in a company’s working conditions?” The results proves very clearly how ingrown the Danish Model is in the Danes' mind and in their culture as 51% answered that they should intervene when the employees have directly complained to their labor-union and 56% have answered that the labor-unions should intervene if they believe that the company does not comply with what is regarded as being good morale and has members employed in the compan y. Only 1% says that the labor-unions should never intervene and this is because the role of the labor-unions is exactly to make sure that the Danish workers are working under satisfactory conditions and need to be listened to if they have something to say (Survey, 2015: Q21) The reason why the percentage of the second option is higher than the first, can be interpreted to be due to the freedom of speech in the working place. This can be seen in the case of Ryanair, where there are several employees who have complained to their labor-union but have been either given a yellow card and taken some rights by Ryanair management for contacting their labor-unions. They have also signed a contract that says that they are going to be having secrecy for Ryanair and are therefore never allowed to talk about their working conditions- even though they are not working for them anymore (Contract Alessandra, interview Alessandra).(Timeline, 2015)
The survey indicates clearly, that the respondents are having faith in the labor unions position towards negotiating with Ryanair, however it is itself not evident for proving that the labor unions can influence Ryanair's relationship towards its employee s. According to FPU, Ryanair distinguish itself in the way that they treat their employees and it refusing to not make a collective agreement with the labor union. O’Leary has in an interview said that they do respect the Danish system and the Danish culture, but they simply cannot understand why they need to enter into a collective agreement, as that would affect their effective business model. Ole og Jesper Kongskov: Københavns overborgmester angriber Ryanair20 . What is interesting here is the fact that he respects the Danish system and traditions, but the Danish model is such an ingrown part of the Danish labor system and culture. Thus, O’Leary does either not fully understand the content of the Danish culture or he does not really respect the Danish culture. The reason why there is no Danish law covering the working standards is exactly do to the labor-unions’ role. It is the labor-unions along
20
In: Københavns overborgmester a ngriber Ryanair, 16.05.2015, p. 1-1. Interneta dres s : http://www.b.dk/na ti ona l t/koebenha vns overborgmes ter-a ngri ber-rya na i r La s t vi s i ted: 27.05.2015 (Arti cl e)
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
with their members and their employers who enter into agreements of specific working condit ions for each one. Thus, the importance of the labor-unions within the labor market in Denmark is great. Furthermore, the Danish labor-unions have received a great amount of inquiries from their members who are very concerned about the situation and are afraid of being part of the conditions that Ryanair wishes to have in Denmark for their aircraft industry staff. If the labor-unions did not make a fuss about Ryanair not following the Danish market system, none of this would have found place and Ryanair would be operating without any resistance since their employees are trapped. “To us, it is just important that you can get a salary you can live with and which is decent and which provide some form of security. We do not demand luxury goods, the time is over we know too well, we just need decent conditions” (Interview Anders Mak Jensen, 2015)
Cases with Ryanair conflicting with other national labor -unions Ryanair has, as mentioned been conflicting with labor-unions from almost all of its base countries. In 2007, France started a lawsuit against Ryanair for not entering into French agreement when it set up a base at the airport Marseille-Marignane with 127 employees. Ryanair did not pay contributions to the mandatory pension funds and health insurance, and the company did not respect the provisions of the law on working time. It was a clear violation of a decree of 2006, which require foreign airlines based in France to comply with French law for employees, including pilots when they start and end their day in France. This case proves that labor-unions can affect whether Ryanair operates in the specific country or not. The labor-unions are namely the ones giving “working conditions and collective agreements” cases attention 21 . However, the case in France was not necessarily been a success for France if it was n ot for the violation of a decree. Furthermore, when Ryanair lost the lawsuit it withdrew from France, as it did not wish to change its business strategy which it perceives as effective and good. Instead Ryanair just continued its strategy in other countries. To conclude upon the above through process tracing, the Danish labor-unions are necessary factors in regards to its role and impact on ‘Ryanair operating within the Danish borders’, as they are the ones labelling them as problematic and thereby given attention to this as a conflict. However, it cannot be concluded that the laborunions will change Ryanair’s low-cost strategy. as there are no examples of Ryanair entering into agreements 21
Va l s ga a rd, Ma thi a s : Ryanair-strid kan presse selskabet ud af København. In: DR, 18.3.2015, p. 1-1. Interneta dres s : http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Penge/2015/03/18/073443.htm La s t vi s i ted: 27.05.2015 (Arti cl e )
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
with other countries and thereby probably not will in Denmark as we ll. Ryanair will most likely just leave Denmark if it loses the lawsuits in both Denmark and the EU22 .
Due to the respondents of the survey's perception of labor unions' role on the employees' working conditions, labor unions are still perceived as a necessary but not sufficient factor for influencing Ryanair's relationship towards its stakeholders. However, because of the previous cases with Ryanair conflicting with labor unions, it is not likely that the case in Danish Labor Court will provide more ethics to Ryanair's management of its relationship to the employees.
Ryanair and its competitors To understand Ryanair’s position in the airline industry, a brief understanding of Ryanair’s competitors will be presented, as Porter among others, argues that companies are mutually dependent in relation to working conditions. Thus changes in Ryanair’s strategy e.g. price regulation, improvement in product and service, could therefore influence its competitors and vice versa. The project has selected four companies as representatives, as it is argued that these represent the range from low-fare to exclusive, and includes the two major Scandinavian airlines SAS and Norwegian. To find evidence for the importance of competitors, as part of process tracing the hypothesis “Ryanair is pushing other airline companies to have cheaper prices on airplane ticket” where conducted along with the hypothesis “Ryanair is pushing the prices of airline tickets on expense of its employees”.The former hypothesis concerns an investigation of whether Ryanair has an influence on other airline companies prices. Lately, it has been evident within the airline industry that many traditional companies e.g. SAS are fighting for their survival in the wave of low -price companies, with Ryanair in the leading position, that have entranced the airline industry and are challenging companies such as SAS23.
22
Seidelin, Michael: Ryanair tabte et slag i Frankrig - men flyver videre og udvider butikken. In: Politiken, 19.3.2015, p. 1-1. Internetadress: http://politiken.dk/oekonomi/virksomheder/ECE2592616/ryanair-tabte-et-s l a g-i -fra nkri g---men-fl yver-vi dere-ogudvi der-buti kken/ La s t vi s i ted: 27.05.2015 (Arti cl e) 23 Pol i ti ken: SAS-konflikten udstiller de syge
vilkår
i
luftfarten.
I:
Pol i ti ken,
2.3.2015,
Ava i l a bl e
a t:
http://politiken.dk/debat/ledere/ECE2570716/sas-konflikten-udstiller-de-syge-vilkaar-i-luftfarten/ Last a cces s ed: 27.05.2015 (Arti kel )
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
However, it can be argued that cutting in prices is much easier for a company as Ryanair, which has refused to have any collective agreement for its employees as stated in the previous paragraph.
Where it makes other companies in the airline industry hard to survive is because of their collectiv e agreements, where minimum wages and other conditions are agreed upon for all employees. This is substantiated by Henrik Bay -Clausen, from 3F, and furthermore by Anders Munk Jensen from FPU arguing that; "Ryanair is definitely the worst in this industry" (Interview FPU).
However, whether it is difficult for other companies to cut their ticket prices or not, it is the effect Ryanair has had - and by analyzing different airline companies prices on a trip to London and back, it is hard to find any significant difference in the prices (see appendix II). Ryanair is perceived as a sufficient factor, for explaining the effect on employees' working conditions within the airline industries, as a consequence of the competition of prices on airplane tickets. This is due to the knowledge of Ryanair's role as the first low-price company in Europe, since, other low-price companies have been developed. Ryanair may not explicitly have an influence on the airlines, however there is evidence for that the low-price companies all together have influenced the companies. This became evident when SAS in December 2014 announced a saving plan, after a deficit of 545 million kroner in 2013/14. The plan involved a transfer of 147 employees to the newly acquired daughter company Cimber Sterling, as an attempt to save money on restructuring the company (Kristensen, 2015). Months later in March 2015, Norwegian Air Shuttle (the mother company of Norwegian) likewise announced that the daughter company Norwegian Air Norway, where all Scandinavian employees are employed, where to be split into separate companies for each of the countries; Denmark, Sweden and Norway (Norwegian 2015; Lind, 2015). The cuts that was made in SAS and Norwegian are also on the expense of the employees. However, it has for both companies not been straightforward cuts, as long negotiations with the labor unions representing the employees of those two companies, have costed the companies a lot in terms of capital as strikes by the employees have paralyzed the companie s from doing business. The point of this statements, is that even though SAS and Norwegian have both been proved to do business on the expense of their employees, they have not been 'standing with the smoking -gun', in the sense that they have used time and efforts in order to compromise with their employees .
According to the stakeholder theory, it can be argued that this approach is including ethics in the management of stakeholders, to a significant higher extent than what Ryanair is doing.
To conclude on the hypothesis “Ryanair is pushing other airline companies to have cheaper prices on airplane ticket”, there is evidence for that low-price companies are forcing other companies to rethink their strategies and can thus be argued to be an expense to these companies, as such changes can be costly both in terms of price but also in terms of
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
expected earnings. However there are not enough evidence to conclude that these changes are sole due to Ryanair’s low-price strategy, and therefore the hypothesis is falsified.
Furthermore, the organizational changes at SAS and Norwegian indicated that there are evidence for Ryanair pushing other companies to cut in expenses for employees, because of the struggle for cheaper prices. As their employees fears that these changes would lead to a reduction of their current working conditions, first and foremost because employees in Norwegian believes that the company will shot down the daughter companies, and replace the Scandinavian workforce with less expensive workers from other daughter companies (Quass, 2015). The employees in SAS, however fear that the transferred employees at the next collective bargaining in 2017 will force the employees to decrease their current working conditions to the lesser level of the other employees in Cimber Sterling, or to get fired (Andersen, 2015). Thus the conclusion to the hypothesis “Ryanair is pushing the prices of airline tickets on expense of its employees” is accepted. However there are evidence proving that the company is not the only one doing this, but the methods are more extreme than in the case of SAS and Norwegian, that are negotiating with their employees. The hypothesis is accepted, and Ryanair is a sufficient factor to explain the issue.
The relationship of Ryanair an d its employees Employees can in many ways be seen as front persons of a company, as they are the ones interacting with the company's customers. It can therefore be important for a company to maintain a good relationship to its employees if the company has certain expectations to such. This is also a key point within the stakeholder theory, that stress the fact that in order to create value for a business, it is necessary to include ethics in the management of relationship to stakeholders, hereby also Ryanair's employees. To analyze the relationship between Ryanair and its employees, an understanding of the contract will be presented, together with a former Ryanair employee, Alessandra Cocca’s narrative of her time in the company. The contract are to be analyzed, as the stakeholder theory argues that the contract is one way to see the relationship between the Ryanair and its employees (Freeman et. al, 2010: 25). The hypothesis “Ryanair does not include ethics in its management of relationship of its employees” will be analyzed subsequently.
The hypothesis is decided to include a necessary but not sufficient factor, namely; ethics in relationship management of employees. It will in Page 40 of 121
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
the further analysis be investigated upon whether the hypothesis will be falsified or accepted by evidences from a previous employee and statements from the interviews. If the hypothesis passes the Hoop test within process tracing, it will be proved that the lack of ethics in the relationship management is a necessary factor to understand how Ryanair may challenge Danish working conditions in the airline industry.
As stated in the stakeholder theory it is important to look at the contract in order to determine the conditions the employees have. It should however be noted that around 60 to 70% of all Ryanair’s employees are hired through recruitment agencies, instead of being hired directly at Ryanair (Hall and Kongskov, 2015: 20). The contract through such agencies differs from the on in Ryanair. If getting a three -year cabin crew contract through Crewlink Ireland Ltd. (recruits around 27% of Ryanair's employees), some of the conditions are as follows (see Appendix III for complete contract): Income, working hours and fees:
16.20 ( 120kr) per scheduled block hour incl. premium for Sunday and holiday working and meal
allowance
May be entitled to a bonus of 10% of own sales made doing the flight
No formal working hours, can be required to work at any given time
Compulsory non-paid leave when excess capacity or low-season
Are to pay for uniform the first year and for the times parked in the airport staff car park
Termination of contract:
1 weeks’ notice between 13month - 2 year, 2 weeks’ notice between 2-5 years, if resigned by the
company
200 ( 1490kr) resignation fee within the first 15months and employees should give the company at
least 1 months’ notice Other terms:
Most live within 1 hour of transportation to the airport
Should expect to be on standby without pay an undefined days a month
Have duty of confidentiality
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
Crewlink and Ryanair have rights to search employees and their personal belongings
Possibility to renew contract after end period
When analyzing the contract ( the text) through critical discourse analysis, CDA, it becomes apparent that the interactional control, that is the relationship that Ryanair wants to establish with its employees are two folded. As the linguistic in the text are formal and judicial, Ryanair thereby wants to be perceived as a professional business. In the other discourse of the text, Ryanair expresses how they formally expect the employees to behave and how they perceive the employees, thus the modality, which is the wanted power Ryanair wants to achieve by the discourse, are very explicit. This is argued as the text clearly states the role of the employee. As the terms for employment shows that Ryanair somehow wants to minimize the expense of having employees, by letting them pay e.g. their uniform, id-card, car park, and for leaving the company. It, thus indicates that Ryanair does not give the employees significant value. However, one needs to keep i n mind that a contract cannot be seen as Ryanair’s only discourse about their employees, as a contract rarely formulates other aspects than the formalities. To understand Ryanair’s discourse fully, an analysis of Ryanair’s job advertisement for cabin crew is needed in addition, as the discourse for such will provide us with an understanding of what Ryanair wants to offer their employees and what they further expect of them in return. The main point in the job advertisement is as follow (quoted from the full advertisement in Appendix VII): Ryanair is looking for the following qualifications in their personnel:
Quick-thinking
Fast-acting
Hard-working
Who love a challenge
Like to get stuck in
Hates waffle
Works well with other people but able to work on your own initiative too
Is enthusiastic!
Friendly and outgoing personality
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
Ryanair offers:
Competitive salary - approximately 1,100- 1,400 per month after tax the first year in most bases
Rewarding systems to incentivize work
New Joiners' Allowance £1,000 / 1,200 over first 6 months
o
After 12 Months: an EXTRA £250/ 325 annual allowance for uniforms, ID's and Medicals Great promotional opportunities with the potential to join Ryanair (supervisor after 18months) and earn
in excess of £25,000/ 30,000 gross per annum after just one year in most bases.
New friends, fun, amazing opportunities and real job satisfaction
Generous travel benefits from day one, giving you the opportunity to fly abroad on your days off. Rome
for lunch! Or Skiing in Austria!
It is evident that the job advertisement seems more appealing as it includes not only what Ryanair is looking for, but also what they can offer. Hence the modality of this discourse implies mutual relationship, where Ryanair rewards after performance. Even though many of the elements are identical to the contract, it differs when it comes to how much it is possible to earn in the company. The contract does not mention any of the allowances or the possibility of being promoted within the contract period. The latter however does not need to be included in the contract. This becomes a problem as Ryanair does not deliver what is promised, which might also be one of the reasons that their employees has applied. According to Alessandra Cocca the relationship and communication between Ryanair and the employees after being employed, is of a different matter. As she expresses in the interview (see Appendix V): “If you take a frog, and you put it in the water and you put the frog in very hot water, the frog takes the jump and get out. If you take the frog and little by little you warm up the water, it is being cooked with it [not] even realizing that. So this is the psychological way to work for them, they cook you without you realizing it.” By this she argues that when applying for a position in Ryanair and doing the training, everything seems glamorous and like a dream job. However things change when signing the contract, and due to the first impression of the company, one does not realize that the conditions have changed from what was promised. The mode also changes from the promised friendly and outgoing teamwork spirit to a ruder introvert one-against- the- other attitude. The latter stems from the company’s organizational culture, which Page 43 of 121
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
Alessandra argues, is a mirror image of Michael O’Leary. She further defines Ryanair’s behavior to be very “British”, which she states is “rudeness masqueraded as politeness”. To conclude Ryanair should be seen as a tough business that promotes competition and rewards hard work. It does not appreciate others opinion and believe that the company will be sustainable in the future with its currently discourse. In terms of these conditions being worse than the other airl ine companies in Denmark, both 3F and FPU state that Ryanair are the worst in this category. This was substantiated by 3F stating that the other companies that has a base in Denmark do have a collective agreement with the labor unions. Some of the other co mpanies might have conditions that are not optimal and could be better, but they do have this agreement . (interview)
The hypothesis; "Ryanair does not include ethics in its management of relationship of its employees" can be accepted and therefore the lack of ethics in relationship management of Ryanair's employees is a necessary factor.
The consumers' influence on Ryanair The consumers are as mentioned defined as being one of the stakeholder groups towards Ryanair. To consider this, its is first of all necessary to look at the hypothesis ,H1: 'The consumers' position towards Ryanair will influence Ryanair's success on the Danish market'. In the interviews with the labor unions when asking about the consumers role, both labor unions stated that the consumers had a crucial role in terms of Ryanair's success, especially Jensen from FPU who stated that ' to put it bluntly, there would not be a Ryanair without the consumers' (interview FPU). Additionally, 3F mentions cases where the consumers play a role for instance in regards to ecology and nuclear testing. The consumers can be argued to be a part of the market forces which are playing a key role in the single market.One can here state that the consumers are a necessary and sufficient factor for Ryanair's ability to operate, as if they do not buy Ryanair's tickets and support the business, Ryanair will cease to exist. (interview 3F)
EU and the grey areas To analyze EU's role to the given research question "How can Ryanair challenge theworking conditions in the national airline industry?", an overall hypothesis were conducted as follows, " EU has an influence on Ryanair's ability to challenge the ethics in terms of working conditions within the airline industry in Denmark". The same Page 44 of 121
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
hypothesis can be drawn for the following terms and concepts within EU as well, namely the single market, social dumping, enlargement, mutual recognition and judicial activism. These are all important aspects of the EU which will make it possible to test the hypothesis. At first, the analysis is testing the first hypothesis; "Mutual recognition leads to social dumping within the single market". Within process tracing, the Straw-in-the-Wind test is chosen due to the mutual recognition is perceived as affecting social dumping, but is not in itself enough to be the only cause. In other words the concept, is considered as being neither a necessary factors nor sufficient, however the test will maybe show something different. This consideration is based on the researchers' prior knowl edge of the concept's evolvement throughout EU's history.
This can be argued as being a way in which there is ensured that there is regulation on the products in the different member states. Looking at the timeline of the history of the single market within the EU, the case of 'Cassis de Dijon' can be argued to have had a significant role within the development of the Single Market. This is due to the fact, that the conflict resulted in an agreement of the principle of mutual equivalence. However, it can be argued that a direct relation to social dumping within EU can be hard to see, therefore the hypothesis is tested by the Straw-in-the-Wind test, as the factor will not be, based on knowledge, a necessary nor sufficient factor for proving that the EU leads to social dumping. Since it has been argued, that mutual recognition actual is made to protect citizens from being affected by social dumping. (Foster,2014:342), (Schioppa,2002:4-7), (Cini,2013:257)
"Judicial activism leads to social dumping within the single market" is this part's second hypothesis, which still concerns the questions of whether EU has an influence of social dumping. However, this hypothesis is tested by another test within process tracing than H1, because prior knowledge indicates for the researchers, that judicial activism places a major role in regards to social dumping. Because the evidence of proving that this concepts role is so strong, the 'Smoking-gun test has been chosen.
In aspect of this concept, different cases through time have been argued to have an influence on the cutting down on the social standards and labor rights, namely; 'Viking', 'Laval' and 'Rüffert'. The 'Viking' case, concerned the conflict between a Finish shipping company 'Rosella', a daughter company of 'Vikingline', that wished to make an collective agreement with the trade union in Estonia. The agreement should make it possible for Rosella to employ Estonia crew, in order to get cheaper labor by giving lower salaries. However, the labor unions within Finish Seamen's Union(FSU) was told this by the company , which caused the international union Transport Workers Federation (ITF), to write to
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
all its alias that they should not make a collective agreement with Viking, additionally FSU was planning on striking. These event caused Viking to take the case to the court in the United Kingdom where the case became subject to preliminary ruling and became an EU matter. In overall the legal decision was that the FSU had the right to strike as long as it was in accordance with the fundamental freedoms. However, it did also decide that the FSI and FSU was putting restrictions on the Vikings freedom of movement24 . This decision, that Viking won its case in court, was not an incident, as the Laval and the Rüffel cases also fall to the benefits of the business of inquiry. For instance it can be proved in the case of 'Laval', where Swedish labor unions, were judged by EU of violating Laval's right to hired foreign workers from an EU member state.(Rönnmar,2010:280-287) Furthermore, the Rüffel case also substantiates the right the companies have for freedom of movement, since in this case a Polish company was accused of not following minimum wages in the public sector which was Niedersachsen (the law of lands) argument. However this law was stated to be inconsistent with EU and the freedom of movement provided by article 56 in TFEU, since the w age did not cover the entire construction industry in Germany's minimum wage and it did therefore restrict the company from competing25 . To sum up, It can be argued that judicial activism is a sufficient criteria for EU's ability to lead to social dumping this is due to the fact that the rulings which are mentioned above are prioritizing freedom of establishment and services higher than collective and social labor rights. This high prioritization of liberalizing the market and the aspects it is prioritization is challenging the socio-economic models (Cini, 2013: 257-259). Furthermore, as social dumping was defined as being practical and undermining social standards within the country, it can be argued that this was what happened in the different cases. Therefore the cases have shown us that it has happened before that EU has contributed to social dumping and therefore judicial activism can be considered as a sufficient factor in proven EU's role in regards to social dumping. However, judicial activism had no right to judge without mutual recognition, that was the cornerstone of the single market and can therefore be argued to be a necessary factor whereas the researchers realize that other factors are in play than judicial activism.
24
Summa ry of i mportant judgements: Case C-438/05 International Tra nsport Workers’ Federation and Finnish Seamen’s Union v Vi king Li ne ABP a nd OÜ Viking Li ne Eesti, judgment of 11 December 2007 Internal market . Publiced by: European Commiss i on Lega l Servi ce. La s t updated: 07.2008. Ava i lable at: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/legal_service/arrets/05c438_en.pdf - Last a ccessed: 27.05.2015 (Internet) 25 Rüffert C-346/06 Judgment s umma ry. publ i ced by: Europea n Tra de Uni on Confedera ti on. Ava i l a bl e a t: http://www.etuc.org/s i tes /www.etuc.org/fi l es /Rueffert-judgement-s umma ry.pdf - La s t a cces s ed: 27.05.2015 (Internet)
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
"Free movement of labor leads to social dumping" is the third hypothesis, and is build upon knowledge about a specific regulation of the EU, namely Article 49 (Article 49, TFEU), which states that national law should not restrict in the national, including firms to establish themselves in another EU member state.
The analysis concluded before that the judicial activism itself, actually could be an sufficient factor in order to conclude that EU leads to social dumping, however it was also proved that other necessary factors were needed in the evidence. H3 includes another factor, namely 'free movement of labor', which is here considered as a necessary, but not sufficient factor. To see if that is true the Hoop test has been chosen, and the results will provide further in the investigating of EU's impact on social dumping. It was as mentioned stated that judicial activism was a sufficient criteria, however it can be argued that the free movement of labor is necessary for judicial activism to exist in this regard. This can be proven by looking at the three cases above and their legal arguments that are based on the agreement of free movement of labor. As it is proved that the cases had an influence on social dumping, it can therefore be argued that the concept of free movement, has a necessary role in this provement. This is due to the fact, that in the Viking case three article related to the freedom of labor was used, namely 45,49 and 56 TFEU. In the Rüffert case article 56 was used as the legal argument and Laval used 52,56,57,62 in TFEU. These cases indicate that the arguments was related to the treaties provision of freedom of labor and services. As it was also indicated in the description of the cases that it was regarding the economic freedom. To sum up in combination with the judicial activism it can be argued that the free movement of labor is an necessary factor in order to create social dumping, because the three cases that are chosen as being representative of the issue, are all using legal arguments that have to do with this area of the legal framework. However it is not a sufficient criteria since it is not a factor leading to this issue alone but simply a tool that can be used (Rönnmar,2010:280-287) 26 .
26
Rüffert C-346/06 Judgment s umma ry. publ i ced by: Europea n Tra de Uni on Confedera ti on. Ava i l a bl e a t: http://www.etuc.org/sites/www.etuc.org/files/Rueffert-judgement-summary.pdf - La st accessed: 27.05.2015 (Internet) a nd Publ i ced by: Europea n Commi s s i on Lega l Servi ce. La s t upda ted: 07.2008. Ava i l a bl e a t: http://ec.europa .eu/dgs /l ega l _s ervi ce/a rrets /05c438_en.pdf - La s t a cces s ed: 27.05.2015 (Internet)
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
Rule shopping Because there is a lack of rules in the EU and they are not interpreted the same way, for instance the concept of employer, which is argued to have been exploited by low-cost airline companies, like Ryanair, then it is argued by the Ministry of Transport in Denmark that businesses can practice "rule shopping" (Danish Transport authority, 2015) H4: "The possibility to make rule shopping within EU leads to social dumping within the airline industry in Denmark". The way this was identified as being an important factor in order to understand EU's role in this specific issue is due to the statement made by the transport ministry. Namely that "social dumping within the airline industry predominantly must be characterized as lawful rule shopping where airlines take advantage of differences in Member States' rules and interpretation of EU rules" (Danish Transport authority, 2015:7) This is a key issue, especially within the airline industry and will be investigated as a necessary and sufficient factor within the question of EU leads to social dumping. This can be substantiated by several statements from different sources. First of all, there is Henrik B. Clausen from 3F who states that rule shopping within EU is a problem and it would be very helpful if EU took measures against this problem (3F interview). This indicates that rule shopping is one of the problems in regards to EU's role in the issue and he therefore substantiates the hypothesis. However, Anders Mark Jensen from FPU is stating that the issues are lying within Danish law, when it comes to the case of Ryanair in Denmark. He argues that, because no Danish law concerns this issue, there is a risk, that the case within the labor-court has to be taken at the EU level, if so a Danish judge declares himself incompetent in regards to give judgment (FPU interview). Even though that Jensen declares that the issues is a national problem there is more arguments for that the EU plays a role. This can be seen in the report from the Danish ministry of transport which builds its findings on investigations in this area (Danish Transport authority, 2015). It is mentioning that the EU has an essential role in social dumping in the airline industry in terms of rule shopping. This is due to the fact that a lot of the aspects that the 'low cost' companies are build on is a result of rule shopping. As mentioned social dumping is situations where one is undermining or evading existing social regulations this is by the transport ministry argued to be the case. Additionally, they elaborate on the specific situation in Denmark and states that the cases within Denmark have shown that foreign workers are receiving wages and working conditions under Danish standard, however it i s also argued that the airline companies can, according to EU law, legally act in this way (Danish Transport authority, 2015
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
Even though FPU is arguing against that EU's regulation about free movement has influence on social dumping, it can still be concluded that the evident proving that free movement of labor has a role in regards to social dumping in Denmark are of a bigger size. Therefore free movement of labor passes the Hoop test and can be argued to be a necessary factor. The next hypothesis is "Enlargement leads to higher inequality in the Union which cause social dumping". The above analysis leads the project to consider broader concepts which are important to get an understanding of the EU's role in terms of social dumping, namely regulated capitalism and neoliberalism. The concepts that have been considered above, are including the concepts of mutual recognition, free movement of labor and judicial activism. Therefore one can argue that because of those concepts relation to EU's role in social dumping - the whole can be related to the concepts of neoliberal ism and regulated capitalism. Therefore the hypothesis is, "neoliberalism and regulated capitalism are the reasons there exists social dumping within EU". If looking at neoliberalism in regards to the EU and the single market, the key principles is when concerning the market which should be liberalized, meaning that the trade restrictions should be removed, thus making the market more attractive to business. Another important aspect in thi s respect is regulatory competition, meaning that the different countries that are in the market, will strive to make a regulatory environment that will be attractive to business, even more if leading to further deregulation of the market. Additionally, neoliberalism also emphasize the importance of preventing EU institution from gaining great regulatory power, and in overall to keep the market free from political interference (Cini, 2013: 257, 403). This can be argued to have an influence in regards to social dumping since the events such as judicial activism and free movement of labor are build on these principles, and can therefore be argued to be a product of this way of thinking. However, if looking at the regulated capitalism in terms of EU, its role here is concerning the idea that the European level should have its capacity enhance in terms of regulating the market. The ideology behind is the support of the social market economy and social solidarity where the welfare state and the distributive poli tics are seen as important. Also the aim to enhance the legitimacy of the EU institution, by for instance striving to increase the use of qualified majority voting (Cini, 2013: 257). This indicates that even though some within the EU wants a market that is more regulated than neoliberalism and are focusing more on the social aspects of the Union, the principles that have been described can still be argued to have been build on these principles.
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
Therefore one can state that neoliberalism is a necessary but not sufficient criteria for the existence of social dumping with the Union.
To sum up and consider the overall hypothesis, namely that 'EU has an influence on Ryanair's ability to challenge the ethics in terms of working conditions within the airline industry in Denmark', one can say that all the factors that are mentioned are important parts of the single market. Since these have all been defined as having a influence on Ryanair's ability to challenge these conditions one can state that the single market has an influence and thereby also the EU and is strongly substantiated by 5 necessary factors.
Survey analysis In order to answer the thirds working question question about what consumers prioritize as important when buying air flight tickets, the survey has been used as the main empirical data. For the project to get the best overview of what the consumers prioritize, the consumers have been divided into different categories, namely; age, education and work background.
Different hypotheses have been made for each group according to the expectation of the preferences they must have. The main hypothesis is set to be: Consumers with different backgrounds have ‘price’ as their first priority when buying tickets. ‘Background’ is here defined as eithe r education, occupation, income or the age of the consumers. This will be done through the responses from the survey where a look at the respondents answers to question 1 to 4 are compared directly with their answers to their preferences when buying tickets. (Survey, 2015) There are therefore four sub-hypothesizes: -The length of the journey does not influence the Danish consumers preferences on the fact that the Danes prioritize 'price' over anything else when buying a flight ticket -
The age of the consumer does not have an influence on the consumers preferences when it comes to
their first priority-
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
- The consumer’s occupation does not have an influence on the consumers preferences when it comes to their first priority -
The level of education has no influence on the consumers’ priorities when it comes to their first priority
-
The consumers’ income does not have an influence on their preferences when it comes to their three
first priority To start with the first hypothesis, one will have to find out whether there is a difference between the responses of the consumer’s travelling with short or long routes and thereby accept or falsify the hypothesis that says 'The length of the journey does not have an influence on the Danish consumers preferences on the fact that the Danes prioritize 'price' over anything else when buying a flight ticket'. The results shows a slightly difference on the responses and thus the term is not crucial. Both of the route lengths’ cons umers prioritize the price over anything else with 34% on long routes and 31% on short routes. The second priority is on direct connections/length of the journey where long routes is at 24% and short routes at 21%. The third is on quality/service where long routes is at 13% and short routes 18%. Thus, it has chosen to focus on only the short routes’ responses when we cross checked with the consumers’ four backgrounds as mentioned in the beginning. This is due to the fact that the differences are not signif icant and it is therefore possible to look at one of them. The first cross-check with age shows very clearly that all ages have chosen the ‘price’ as one of their three prioritizations and all of the age groups beside 50-59 who had ‘price’ equal with direct connection/quality and service. Thus, the first hypothesis The age of the consumer does not have an influence on the consumers preferences when it comes to their first priority will not be falsified but is temporarily accepted until it is proven wrong. Thereby this is neither a necessary or sufficient criteria in the determining which factors plays a role for consumers to prioritize price the highest. The second cross-check is about the hypothesis 'the consumer’s occupation does not have an influence on the consumers preferences when it comes to their first priority'. All of the occupational groups have chosen ‘price’ as their first priority. This means that this hypothesis is now accepted until it is proven to be wrong, as well. Thereby this also fails to be a necessary or sufficient criteria in this respect.
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
The third cross check is about the educational level and the survey results also shows that no matter what the educational level is the first priority is still the ‘price. Thus, the hypothesis ‘ The level of education has no influence on the consumers’ priorities when it comes to their first priority is accepted until it is proven wrong. Therefore this is just as age and occupation neither a necessary or sufficient criteria Lastly is the hypothesis: 'The consumers’ income does not have an influence on their preferences when it comes to their three first priority' which the responses of the survey has proven to be accepted as all of the income groups have price as their first priorities. Thereby, the income is neither a necessary or sufficient criteria in influence consumer prioritization in regards to prize. The above four hypothesis are all accepted, but as they are all formulated negatively, they all are failing a straw-in-the-wind test. Therefore all factors, namely; age, occupation, education or income do not have an influence when in what consumers prioritize the highest when buying flight tickets; price. We can thereby conclude that the price of the ticket is what Danes prioritize mostly compared to the other answer opportunities in the survey question. This means that the main hypothesis “Consumers with different backgrounds have ‘price’ as their first priority when buying tickets” is accepted as in the end consumers’ prioritize lower prices over ethics. The price when it comes to buying tickets is both a necessary and sufficient factor as the Danes prioritize price before anything else when buying a flight ticket. "Conscious consumers’ that are informed of Ryanair’s employees’ working conditions will not buy Ryanair tickets". This hypothesis has been made in order to check if the enlightenment of such conditions will affect the conscious consumers’ choice, when choosing what company to buy their ticket from. To answer the hypothesis, the researchers therefore need to investigate if the conscious consumers are enlightened or not. 64% of the survey respondents defined themselves as conscious consumers to some - and to a high extent. The researchers argue that the definition of a conscious consumer is a consumer who will be affected by enlightenment when it comes to buying a product/service. In order to test if the hypothesis can be accepted or rejected the researcher will need to analyze the 64% of the respondents defined as conscious consumers. This will be conducted by cross-checking the survey question about whether the respondents are a conscious consumer together with their prior knowledge of the relationship between Ryanair and their employees. Thus separating the conscious consumers into two categories; respondents that knows about Ryanair’s working conditions and who does not. This is further cross -
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
checked with questions regarding own experience with Ryanair and whether they prior to the survey would buy their tickets, and if they would buy Ryanair’s tickets after proving them with some facts about the company. The result of the cross-check is as follows;
Conscious consumers on buying Ryanair tickets (prior to survey and enlighten doing survey) (%) Conscious consumers 6,67 yes-yes
Not enligthened
4,76
no-no no->only
no->don't know
27,14
3,81
11,43
1,43
1,90
0,95
maybe->possibily/don't know
yes->don't know Yes->possibly
yes/maybe->no/only
24,76
12,86
0,48
0,48
3,33
6,19 12,38
21,43
From the table it can be read that 33.81% (6.67% ‘yes-yes’ answers + 27.14% ‘no-no’ answers) did not change opinion after being informed about Ryanair’s conditions, and in addition 24.76% of the conscious consumers did not know whether they would buy Ryanair’s tickets or not. Thereby 58.57% of the conscious consumers did not have a change of heart. This will however be argued to be of a higher percentage, as it will be argued that the 11.43% that answered no to wanting to buy Ryanair’s tickets prior to the survey and later asked again answered only if Ryanair changes their current conditions, are conscious and consistent in the ir answers. This is argued on the basis, that conscious consumers do not wish to support pure conditions, but are these conditions changes to their standards, there is nothing hindering them from purchasing the product/service. The total percentage of conscious consumers there did not change opinion is therefore 70%. Hence 1.9% changed from a ‘no’ to’ do not know’, whereas the last 28.1% did change their opinion towards not supporting Ryanair, hence 21.43% changed from a clear ‘yes’ to a ‘no’ or ‘only if their current conditions are changed’. From the latter just a little over half of them, did not have any prior knowledge about Ryanair.
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
With the survey results it is then possible to conclude on the hypothesis "Conscious consumers’ that are informed of Ryanair’s employees’ working conditions will not buy Ryanair tickets", that there are strong evidence towards accepting the hypothesis. This is concluded as only 6.67% of the conscious consumer wanting to buy Ryanair’s tickets before also wanted to do so after the survey, hence being provided with information have changed 30% of the conscious consumers’ saying ‘yes’ prior to the survey, opinion towards Ryanair. The hypothesis is further substantiated by the fact that 30.95% of the 38.57% saying ‘no –no/only if Ryanair change their conditions’, were knowledgeable about Ryanair’s working conditions prior to the survey. Lastly, the fact that 60% (27.14% + 11.43% + 21.43%) do not want to buy Ryanair’s tickets, after ending the survey, are also an indication for the respondents do not want to support Ryanair after being enlightened. Thereby one can state that enlighten is a sufficient factor in regards to conscious consumers willingness to buy Ryanair tickets.
When taking a closer look at the table results, it becomes evident that some of the categories, especially ‘yesyes’ contradicts the belief of a conscious consumer. As if one was a conscious consumer, one would not support the behavior at Ryanair. Determine the degree of consciousness of the conscious consumers, it will become apparent whether the respondents saying that they are conscious consumers is it in fact, or if they are acting out the discourse put forward by the media. This will thus also lead to a conclusion of the hypothesis ‘Consumers will in public primarily represent and put forward the socially adopted position regarding Ryanair, but in private the consumer could be of a different opinion’. Reading the table below, 57.14% of the conscious consumers, is argued to be true consumers, as they did not stray from their beliefs, answering ‘no’ to buying Ryanair’s tickets after the survey, or ‘only if Ryanair change their current conditions’. Additionally 2.86% were categories as conscious consumers, as they at first had answered ‘yes’ but ended up answering the same as the former. This leaves 39.52% of the conscious consumers being neutral or not that conscious.
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
Degree of consciousness True conscious consumers Conscious consumers Knowledgeable
neutral consumers
Not enlightened
Not really conscious consumers Non conscious consumers
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
There is therefore evidence for that up to 39.52% may not be conscious consumers, but instead puts forward the discourse of media or society they live in, therefore the hypothesis is accepted, as almost 40% is considered significant. Goffman’s and Meyrowitz’ dramaturgical theory is therefore argued to be true in the case of the consumers discourse towards Ryanair. Having considered the background of the consumers more aspects needed to be considered which was first of all the purpose of the flight. This led to the hypothesis: The purpose of the travel does not have an influence on the fact that the Danish consumers prioritize 'price' over anything else when buying a flight ticket. When cross checking the data it was first of all evident that there are no differences in the preference between work related and private travels on the fact that the Danes prioritize 'price' over anything else when buying a flight ticket. Second, when looking at the purpose for traveling as a private person it is evident that price is the highest priority in both and thereby does the purpose not make a difference in this respect. Thereby the hypothesis that the purpose does not have an influence on the prioritization of prize can be accepted
It becomes evident when analyzing the survey that the most dominant factor when buying plane tickets is the price. Which can therefore be stated to be a necessary factor in Ryanair's and the consumers mutual relations. One the other hand there are evidence that points at the majority of the consumers to some extent are conscious consumers that reflects over the companies' reputation and the employees' working condition s when buying tickets. It is however not significant enough for the consumers to not buy the tickets from Ryanair.
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
Discussion
The following paragraph will provide the project with a discussion of how Ryanair is challenging Danish working conditions in the national airline industry and how this can be prevented by focusing on the stakeholder theory as well as considering EU's role as the main stakeholder of Ryanair in regards to preventing the challenges that might occur as a result of Ryanair operating in Denmark without negotiating with labor unions.
Social dumping is, as mentioned defined as the practice, undertaken by self -interested market participants, of undermining or evading existing social regulations with the aim of gaining a competitive advantage. In other words a situation where a market participant, in this case Ryanair 'invades' the Danish market and challenges the existing social regulations which is the general practice of having collective agreements with labor unions. This refusal of having collective agreement with labor unions can be argued to give Ryanair a competitive advantage over the other companies in this setting, since it is the only airline company that is not having this agreement with the labor unions. Taking all this into account one could say that what Ryanair is doing is social dumping, since its actions is applicable to the definition. Ryanair's entrance in Copenhagen Airport has caused a lot of debate and press coverage as Danish labor unions have from the beginning shown their concerns of Ryanair's approach towards its employees. However, an important criteria that allows Ryanair to enter the Danish market is the consumers, as without the consumers, there is no Ryanair (Anders Mark Jensen, FPU Interview). Therefore it is also important for the Danish labor unions to have support from this stakeholder group Ryanair and have them in the same believe of why it is not good that the employees have bad working conditions. The survey conducted shows that many respondents recognize the labor unions role in regards to negotiate for better working conditions, however will it then be possible for the labor unions to change Ryanair's management of relationships of its employees?
The stakeholder theory, which recognizes the issue by not including ethics in the management of stakeholders, states that this should not be an issue in regards to profit maximizing. Therefore it can be argued that it should be possible to satisfy the interest of the stakeholder groups, namely; labor un ions and employees, without damaging the interest of consumers or in making profit. This is due to the acknowledgement of the dependency between the stakeholders, which means that the interest of consumers cannot be reach without satisfying the interest of the employees also (Freeman, 2010: 24-29).
As stated in the analysis, it can be argued that the employees of Ryanair are not managed with ethics and in order to do so, the labor unions have
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
been proved as a necessary factor in order to implement this. However, it is proven through history, that Ryanair has no intention to negotiate with labor unions, which indicates that there are no future of implementing ethics in its relationship management. From the business perspective, there will be difficulties when the interest of all stakeholders are not considered and cared for. To further substantiate this, is stating what was concluded in the analytical part regarding the consumers prioritizing when buying flight tickets. Here the price was the highest priority, regardless of personal background. This leads the project to believe that Ryanair's low-price strategy will continue, as long as the consumers still prioritize the key characteristic within Ryanair's product, namely; price, because as long as the consume rs are buying products from Ryanair, then it will continue making profit.
Now, if we ought to look towards the future, will Ryanair's profit maximizing continue in the long run? This is an important question to ask in this project as the survey analysis indicates that there is a change in, what company the consumers want to buy flight tickets from, when they have been enlightened about the working conditions of the employees. The debate about Ryanair and its working conditions for its employees, have informed many consumers within Denmark about the company and the conflict. Additionally, the survey shows that this has made the consumers to rethink their support to the low price tickets that Ryanair is providing the market with as the majority of the respondents changed their opinion towards the choice of Ryanair's flight tickets when they were enlightened with the employees' working conditions. When this is said, it is still not possible to conclude upon Ryanair's future, however the interaction with the stakeholders cannot be ignored which means that Ryanair must acknowledge the raised concern of a stakeholder group toward another, if Ryanair will continue creating value in the long-run in Denmark (Freeman, 2010) This leads one to consider another stakeholder group, namely the EU, that is a necessary criteria for Ryanair's ability to act as it does.
Both, the Danish labor unions and Ryanair believe that they are right and that they are going to win no matter where the case is brought up,-be it the Danish labor Court or the EU Court.
However, one could consider if EU is having an interest in putting on more strict rules for the companies since it has been seen in previous cases that economic freedom is a high priority for the union and if setting of these rules will solve the problem. However, the case is defined as being a national matter by the labor unions and thereby one could consider whether a new law, as the one that was introduced in France (the case of Ryanair in Marseille) would help prevent the issue of social dumping to happen - also in the future.
If starting to legislate in this area one might have to rethink the rules behind the national market, as one might have to rethink the entire system and change the labor system (Henrik Bay-Clausen, 3F Interview).
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
But what are the consequences for Denmark if the Danish labor court refuses to let the Danish labor unions making a sympathy strike against Ryanair? This will mean that Ryanair will have the right to stay and keep operating in Denmark without being forced to entering into agreements with labor unions. It can namely be argued that if Ryanair continues operating and challenging the national flight industry companies through high competition as it provides the Danes with cheap flight tickets, the airline companies that are operating in Denmark will be forced to lower their flight ticket prices. This can lead to a destruction of many airline companies such as SAS that is already challenged and on the verge of going bankrupt. (Hall and Kongskov, 2015). However, the companies might be able to survive if they compete with Ryanair by selling cheap flight tickets. But in order for that to happen while also making profit, the airline companies will have to face the reality of Ryanair and can be tempted to lower their working standards by recruiting and hiring foreign workers who are more willing to work for lower wages. This will lead to a change in the national airline industry where Ryanair’s values on effectiveness rather than paying will be the le ading position. This means that on the longer run, Ryanair will push their lack of working conditions into the national airline industry and thereby challenge the Danish model 27.
Conclusion This project concludes, that Ryanair is bringing working conditions to Denmark that are not aligned with the perception of the Danish. In fact, according to Anders Mark Jensen from FPU, Ryanair is the wors t in industry when it comes to challenge these working conditions since it does not wish to make a collective agreement. This led the project to consider the role of the labor unions, which has been proven to be a necessary factor in explaining how Ryanair can change the working conditions for its employees. The stakeholder theory identified the key stakeholders related to the case of Ryanair in Denmark, and provided the project with the framework of understand that the, employees, labor unions and EU are all necessary 27
Ha ll, Ol e og Jes per Kongs kov: Københavns overborgmester angriber Ryanair. In: Københa vns overborgmes ter a ngri ber Rya na i r, 16.05.2015. Ava i l able a t: http://www.b.dk/na ti ona l t/koebenha vns -overborgmes ter-a ngri ber-rya na i r La s t a cces ed: 27.05.2015
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
factors to explain how it is possible for Ryanair to challenge Danish working conditions.
Another important aspect is the single market in the EU. The single market has, namely provided the EU member countries with the free movement of labor that has made it possible for many companies to operate in foreign countries. The airline company Ryanair is one of those who has utilized and extended its business throughout Europe, including Denmark. Those aspect together with mutual recognition, judicial activism, rule shopping, neoliberalism and regulated capitals made the project accept the hypothesis that the single market is a necessary factor in making it possible for Ryanair to challenge the Danish working conditions. It has been further proven that the ay Ryanair is acting in the European airline industry is in aligned with the practice, undertaken by self-interested market participants, of undermining or evading existing social regulations with the aim of gaining a competitive advantage, which has been used to defined the practice of social dumping. As it was mentioned this is the approach that Ryanair is taking when expanding its business to Denmark and refuse to make a collective agreement with Danish labor unions.
Furthermore, the project concludes that when it comes to the interest of consumers, when buying flight tickets, price is of highest priority. However, is has been concluded that enlightenment about working conditions of Ryanair's employees have made consumers to rethink their choice of buying low-price tickets from Ryanair since doing this it makes one support the social dumping that Ryanair is causing. However, Ryanair is still the biggest airline company in Europe and are getting more and more consumers, despite the bad reputation it has. Thereby this leads one to consider Goffman's front stage and backstage theory, which states that even though the consumer in public states that they will not buy tickets from Ryanair they might have another private opinion. Even though the project concludes that there exist evidence that prove the Goffman's theory, it has still been discussed that Ryanair's future success on the market in unstable, due to the consumers perception of the company and also the strength of the Danish labor unions. This is further substituted by the stakeholder theory, which states that a business needs to satisfy the interest of all stakeholder groups.
However the project concludes that the labor unions and consumers cannot by themselves prevent from practices social dumping, and therefore the protection should come from a supranational level, namely the EU. The union has been proved by process tracing to be a necessary factor for providing Ryanair with the framework that aloud it to act and thereby practice social dumping. Therefore the project concludes that in order to prevent this from happing in the future, EU has to regulated some of its rules, so they have the same meaning in all member states.
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
Bibliography Books Bryman, Alan: Social Research Methods. 3. ed. Oxford, 2008. Cini, M.: European Union Politics. 4. ed. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. Craig, Robert T. (1999). 'Communication Theory as a Field'. In Communication Theory, 9(2), pp. 119-161 Delanty, Gerard & Piet Strydom: Philosophies of Social Science. 1 ed. McGraw-Hill, 2003. Fairclough, Norman: Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1992 (b). Foster, Nigel: EU law directions. 4. ed. Oxford university press, 2014. Freeman, R. Edward, et al.: Stakeholder Theory. 1. ed. Cambridge, 2010. Goffman, Erving (1967). 'On Face-Work'. In Goffman: Interaction ritual. Essays on face-to-face behavior. pp. 545., New York: McGraw-Hill. pp. 41-54. Griffin, Em (2009): Mapping the territory (Seven Traditions in the Field of Communication Theory). Chapter 4 in A First Look at Communication Theory, 7th Edition, New York: McGraw-Hill. pp. 41-54. Hall, Ole & Jesper Kongskov: Ryanair, Flyselskabet mange hader- men alligevel flyver med. Page 1-49. 1. ed. Berlingske, 2015. Johnson, Gerry, et al.: Fundamentals of Strategy. 2. ed. Pearson, 2012. Jørgensen, M. & L. Phillips (2002). Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method. Chapter 1 'The Field of discourse analysis'. London: Sage. pp. 1-23. Meyrowitz, Joshua (1990). 'Redefining the situation: Extending dramaturgy into a theory of social change and media effects'. In Riggins (Ed.): Beyond Goffman. Studies in Communication, Institution, and Social Interaction. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 65-98. Rendtorff, Jacob Dahl: Responsibility, Ethics and Legitimacy of Corporations. 1. ed. Copenhagen School Press, 2009. Sayer, A.: Methods in social science: A realist approach. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 1992.
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Thesis Bernaciak, Magdalena : Social dumping and the EU integration process. In: ETUI, 06.2014, pp. 4-27. Available at: https://www.etui.org/Publications2/Working-Papers/Social-dumping-and-the-EU-integrationprocess Last accessed 11.05.2015 Braithewaite, John: Neoliberalism or regulatory capitalism? . In: ANU , 10.2005, s. 1-37. Available at: https://www.anu.edu.au/fellows/jbraithwaite/_documents/Articles/Neoliberalism_Regulatory_2005.pdf Last accessed: 13.05.2015 Collier, David: Understanding Process Tracing. In: Political Science and Politics no. 44 (4), 2011, pp. 823-830. Danish Transport Authority: Rapport om Social Dumping/Regelshopping indenfor luftfart. In: Danish Transport Authority, 03. 2015, pp. 3-22. Available at: http://selvbetjening.trafikstyrelsen.dk/civilluftfart/Rapport/Rapport_om_Social_Dumping_indenfor_luftf art_Dansk.pdf Last accessed: 21.05.2015 Easton, Geoff (2009). Critical realism in case study research. In: Industrial Marketing Management (2010), no. 39, pp. 118-128. Fairclough, Norman. (2005) Discourse Analysis in organization Studies: The Case for Critical Realism. In Organization Studies, June 2005 vol. 26 no. 6, pp- 915-939. Gerring, John. (2004). What Is a Case Study and What Is It Good for? In: The American Political Science Review, May, 2004, Vol. 98, No. 2 pp. 341-354. LEVI-FAUR, David og JACINT JORDANA: The Rise of Regulatory Capitalism: The Global Diffusion of a New Order. In: QRS nr. 598, 03.2015, pp. 201-202. Available at: http://ann.sagepub.com/content/598/1/200.full.pdf Last accessed: 13.05.2015 Littig, Beate: Expert Interviews. Methodology and Practice. In: UTA, Lecture Series, 17.09.2013, pp. 128. Available at: http://www.uta.fi/iasr/lectures/index/17.9.2013_Beate%20Littig_Tampere%20ExpertInterviews.pdf Last accessed: 27.05.2015 Rönnmar, Mia: Laval returns to Sweden: The Final Judgment of the Swedish Labour Court and Swedish Legislative Reforms. In: Industrial Law Journal nr. Vol. 39, No. 3, 09.2010, pp. 280-287. Available at: http://ilj.oxfordjournals.org.molly.ruc.dk/content/39/3/280.full.pdf+html Last accessed. 27.05.2015 Schioppa, Fiorella Kostoris Padoa: MUTUAL RECOGNITION, UNEMPLOYMENT AND THE WELFARE STATE. In: European Network of Economic Policy Research Institutes nr. 13, 09.2002, Available at: http://www.isn.ethz.ch/Digital-Library/Publications/Detail/?lang=en&id=110614 Last accessed: 21.05.2015 Tellis, W., (1997) Application of a Case Study Methodology, The Qualitative Report, Volume 3, Number 3, White paper.
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
Websites Andersen, Keld Vrå: Nu skal det afgøres: "Skal luftfart være et lavtlønsområde?". tv2.dk, 03.03.2015, Section: Nyhederne. Available at: http://nyhederne.tv2.dk/samfund/2015-03-03-nu-skal-det-afgoeres-skal-luftfartvaere-et-lavtloensomraade Last accessed d. 27.05.2015 Andersen, Peter Krogh: Erhvervskorrespondent: SAS-konflikten er meget usædvanlig. DR.dk, 02.03.2015, Section: Nyheder. Available at: http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Penge/2015/03/01/231032.htm Last accessed d. 27.05.2015 Braithwaite, John. Publiched by ANU. Last updated: 17.12.2014. Available at: http://www.anu.edu.au/fellows/jbraithwaite/ - Last accessed 27.05.2015 British Airways. By British Airways. Available at: http://www.britishairways.com/travel/home/public/en_dk Last accessed d. 27.05.2015 Business Dictionary: Product, definition. Published by Business Dictionary. Last updated: 2015. Available at: (http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/product.html). - Last accessed: 27.05.2015 Business Dictionary: Services, definition. Published by Business Dictionary. Last updated: 2015. Available at: (http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/services.html). - Last assecced: 27.05.2015 Business Dictionary: Stakeholder, definition. Published by Business Dictionary. Last updated: 2015. Available at: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/stakeholder.html – Last accessed: 27.05.2015 Cabin Crew Recruitment. Published Ryanair Ltd.. Available at: http://corporate.ryanair.com/careers/cabincrew-recruitment/ - Last accessed d. 27.05.2015 (Internet) Christensen, Ole Kirchert: Frygter ikke Ryanair-konkurrence. check-in.dk, 30.10.2014. Available at: http://www.check-in.dk/frygter-ikke-ryanairkonkurrence#.VVs8ovntmkoChromeHTML\Shell\Open\Command Last accessed d. 27.05.2015 Crewlink. By Crewlink Ireland Ltd. Available at: http://www.crewlink.ie/ - Last accessed d. 27.05.2015 Den danske model. Publiced by Beskæftigelsesministeriet. Available at: http://bm.dk/da/Beskaeftigelsesomraadet/Arbejdsret/Det%20arbej dsretlige%20omraade/Den%20danske%20model.aspx- Last accessed: 27.05.2015 easyJet. By easyJet Airline Company. Available at: http://www.easyjet.com/en - Last accessed d. 27.05.2015 EU citizenship. Publiced by European Comission. Last updated: 05.11.2014. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/citizen/ Last accessed: 27.05.2015
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Europa.eu. What is the single market. Published by Europa. Last update: 03.08.2012. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/20years/singlemarket20/facts-figures/whatis-the-single-market_en.htm - Last accessed: 12.05.2015 European Trade Union Institute: Magdalena Bernaciak . Publiced by: etui. Available at: https://www.etui.org/About-Etui/Staff/Magdalena-Bernaciak - Last accessed: 27.05.2015 European Union: EU treaties. Publiced by: European Union. Available at: http://europa.eu/eu-law/decisionmaking/treaties/index_en.htm - Last accessed: 27.05.2015 (Internet) Faurfelt, Rikke: http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Penge/2015/03/09/151259.htm. In: DR, 9.3.2015, p. 1 Available at: http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Penge/2015/03/09/151259.htm Last accessed: 27.05.2015 Flybranchen: DLF støtter Flyvebranchens Personale Unions (FPU) bestræbelser på at indgå overenskomst med Ryanair. Published by Flybranchen. Last updated: 14.02.2015. Available at : http://www.flyvebranchen.dk/nyheder/2015/02/dlf-stoetter-flyvebranchens-personale-unions-(fpu)bestraebelser-paa-at-indgaa-overenskomst-med-ryanair/ - Last accessed: 27.05.2015 Flybranchen: Om FPU. Published by Flybranchen. Last updated: 2015. Available at : http://www.flyvebranchen.dk/om-fpu/ - Last accessed: 27.05.2015 Flybranchen: Spørgsmål og svar omkring Ryanair. Published by Flybranchen. Last updated: 1.05.2015. Available at: http://www.flyvebranchen.dk/nyheder/spoergsmaal-og-svar-omkring-ryanair/ Last accessed: 27.05.2015 Fokus, Newspaq, Ritzau : Meningsmåling: Flest danskere vil bevare den danske model. In: Fagbladet 3F, 20.05.2015, p. 1. Available at: http://www.fagbladet3f.dk/nyheder/3b8747ba2fac49028d6614daec585f4a20150520-meningsmling-flest-danskere-vil-bevare-den-danske-model Last accessed: 27.05.2015 Gyldendal Den Store Danske. Pierre Bourdieu. Publiced by: Gyldendal. Available at: http://www.denstoredanske.dk/Samfund,_jura_og_politik/Sociologi/Sociologer/Pie rre_Bourdieu Last accessed: 27.05.2015 Hall, Ole andJesper Kongskov: Københavns overborgmester angriber Ryanair, Berlingske Media 16.05.2015. Available at: http://www.b.dk/nationalt/koebenhavns-overborgmester-angriberryanair Last accessed: 27.05.2015 (Article) Jensen, Esben Vest: Få overblikket over Norwegian-konflikten i fem punkter. Berlingske Media, 06.03.2015, Section: Transport. Available at: http://www.business.dk/transport/faa-overblikket-overnorwegian-konflikten-i-fem-punkter Last accessed d. 27.05.2015 John Braithwaite. Publiced by ANU. Last updated: 17.12.2014. Available at: http://www.anu.edu.au/fellows/jbraithwaite/ - Last accessed 27.05.2015
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
Kristiansen, Cecilie Lund: Krise i SAS: Forstå konflikten på fem minutter. Politiken, 02.03.2015, Section: Økonomi. Available at: http://politiken.dk/oekonomi/virksomheder/ECE2569465/krise-i-sas-forstaakonflikten-paa-fem-minutter/ Last accessed d. 27.05.2015 Lassen, Lauritz Harmer: Ekspert: Voldsomme og usædvanlige træk i SAS-konflikt. Berlingske, 02.03.2015, Section: Transport. Available at: http://www.business.dk/transport/ekspert-voldsomme-ogusaedvanlige-traek-i-sas-konflikt Last accessed d. 27.05.2015 Lind, Anton: Norwegian flytter strejkende piloter til nye datterselskaber. DR.dk, 05.02.2015, Section: Nyheder. Available at: http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Penge/2015/03/05/160032.htm Last accessed d. 27.03.2015 Lund, Michael og Nina Munch-Perrin: Ryanair vil have 'den danske model' for EU-domstol. In: DR, 9.3.2015, p. 1 Available at: http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Penge/2015/03/08/160514.htm. Last accessed: 27.05.2015 Norwegian. By Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA. Available at: http://www.norwegian.com/dk/ - Last accessed d. 27.05.2015 Norwegian. Norwegian Air Norway (NAN) etablerer nye skandinaviske pilotselskaber i Norwegian-strukturen. By Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA. Last updated: 05.03.2015. Available at: http://media.norwegian.com/dk/#/pressreleases/norwegian-air-norway-nanetablerer-nye-skandinaviske-pilotselskaber-i-norwegian-strukturen-1126378 - Last accessed d. 27.05.2015 Palys, Ted. Purposive Sampling. Simon Fraser University. Available at: http://www.sfu.ca/~palys/Purposive%20sampling.pdf - Last accessed: 27.05.2015 Politiken: SAS-konflikten udstiller de syge vilkår i luftfarten. In: Politiken, 2.3.2015, Available at: http://politiken.dk/debat/ledere/ECE2570716/sas-konflikten-udstiller-de-sygevilkaar-i-luftfarten/ Last accessed: 27.05.2015 Quass, Lisbeth: Luftfartsekspert om konflikt: Strejkende piloter og Norwegian står stejlt. DR.dk, 05.03.2015, Section: Nyheder. Available at: http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Penge/2015/03/05/064534.htm Last accessed d. 27.05.2015 Rüffert C-346/06 Judgment summary. Publiced by: European Trade Union Confederation. Available at: http://www.etuc.org/sites/www.etuc.org/files/Rueffert-judgementsummary.pdf - Last accessed: 27.05.2015 Ryanair. By Ryanair Ltd.. Available at: http://www.ryanair.com/ - Last accessed d. 27.05.2015 Ryanair: History of Ryanair. Published by Ryanair. Last updated: 2015. Available at: http://corporate.ryanair.com/about-us/history-of-ryanair/ - Last accessed 27.05.2015 Ryanair Labs. Published by Ryanair Ltd.. Available at: http://corporate.ryanair.com/careers/ - Last accessed d. 27.05.2015 (Internet)
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
SAS. By Scandinavian Airlines. Available at: http://www.sas.dk/ - Last accessed d. 27.05.2015 Seidelin, Michael: Ryanair tabte et slag i Frankrig - men flyver videre og udvider butikken. In: Politiken, 19.3.2015, p. 1. Available at: http://politiken.dk/oekonomi/virksomheder/ECE2592616/ryanair-tabte-etslag-i-frankrig---men-flyver-videre-og-udvider-butikken/ Last accessed: 27.05.2015 Septemberforliget: Den danske model. Published by LO. Available at :http://www.lo.dk/omLO/LOshistorie/storebegivenheder/septemberforliget_dendanskemodel.aspx – Last accessed 27.05.2015 Statistics Denmark. Published by Statistics Denmark. Last updated: 26.05.2015. Available at: http://www.statbank.dk/statbank5a/default.asp?w=1366 - Last accessed d. 27.05.2015 (Internet) Summary of important judgements: Case C-438/05 International Transport Workers’ Federation and Finnish Seamen’s Union v Viking Line ABP and OÜ Viking Line Eesti, judgment of 11 December 2007 Internal market. Publiced by: European Commission Legal Service. Last updated: 07.2008. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/legal_service/arrets/05c438_en.pdf Last accessed: 27.05.2015 Svane Kraft, Mathias and Peter Keiding: Se Ryanairs mange skandaler. In: Fagbladet 3F, 6.11.2014, Available at: http://www.fagbladet3f.dk/temaer/ryanair/d89b1322b3114ca9be8756b7db54c459 -20141106-se-ryanairs-mange-skandaler Last accessed. 27.05.2015 Valsgaard, Mathias: Ryanair-strid kan presse selskabet ud af København. In: DR, 18.3.2015, p. 1. Available at: http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Penge/2015/03/18/073443.htm Last accessed: 27.05.2015 3F: Om 3F. Published by 3F. Last updated 2015. Available at: http://www.3f.dk/om-3f - Last accessed: 27.05.2015
Interviews: Cudjoe, Joanna Ama Thue, Annette Graae Holm, Sara Malene Justesen: Interview of Henrik Bay-Clausen , Copenhagen, 10.04.2015 Cudjoe ,Joanna Ama Thue, Sara Malene Justesen: Interview of Alessandra Cocca, Copenhagen, 20.04.2015 Afnan Azzouz, Annette Graae Holm: Interview of Anders Mark Jensen, Copenhagen, 11.05.2015.
Others Azzouz. Afnan , Annette Graae Holm, Joanna Ama Thue Cudjoe, Sara Malene Justesen: Debate with 'Socialistik Folkeparty Ungdom', 'Konservativ Ungdom', Allessandra Cocca (former employeed of Ryanair) and 'Flyvebranchens Personal Union', Hillerød, 21.04.2015.
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Appendix
I: Interview with Henrik Bay Clausen from 3F Kan du fortælle lidt om dig selv og din baggrund i 3F Det kan jeg godt jeg hedder Henrik Bak Clausen, jeg er 55 år og jeg har været medlem af SED, 3F altså SED før det blev til 3F altid det vil sige siden jeg gik ud af skolen det vil sige siden jeg var 16. Så har jeg har forskellige ufaglærte jobs og blevet tillidsmand og fællestillidsmands og blevet fagligsekretær her ansat fagligsekretær. Det var jeg nogle år og så blev jeg valgt næstformand og så blev jeg valgt som formand. Og det er jo en blandet landhandel det her og min egen baggrund er ikke fra luftfarten. Det er det blevet kan man så sige. Jeg er kommet til at blive næsten synonym med luffarten på mange måder og jeg tænker meget i luffart og det er jo fordi at størstedelen af medlemmerne her er jo i luffarten og jeg har brugt rigtig meget tid på det altså udover det overenskomstmæssige så først uddannelse i mange år og så senere meget det med det internationale, som jeg bruger meget tid på nu og luftfartspolitisk i det hele taget 1. Hvad mener Du er problematikken bag hele Ryanair debatten? Hvad handler det helt konkret om? Jamen dybest set handler det jo om at man ønsker transport skal være billiger og det er et politisk ønske i hele verden sådan set. I hvertfald i store dele af verdenen og især i EU og hvis man skal kunne opretholde kan vi kalde udbytningen af eller udnyttelse eller have glæde af at der er billig produktion i østen og Afrika og sådan noget så skal man have billig transport for ellers mister man gevinsten. Så er profitten for lille. Så i rigtig mange systemer, politiske systemer, er der en eller anden konsensus om, at transport skal være billigt og det er sådan set det fuldstændigt grundlæggende bagvedliggende om man liberaliserer alt. Stort set alle reguleringer der har været i luftfartsbranchen og i andre brancher er liberaliseret . Der er stort set frit marked/tag-selv bord på alle hylder . Der er selvfølgelig nogen sikkerhedsting og sådan noget man skal opfylde! Gør man så det kan godt være en diskussion, men kan ikke gå ud for eksempel og sige at Ryanair har flere ulykker end andre heldigvis da! Men det kan man så i nogle andre lande, hvor man kan se at det også er gået udover sikkerheden og der er nogle luftfartsselskaber ude i verden der er på sådan en sortliste, men ikke nogen i Vesteuropa i hvert fald overhovedet.Men altså det drejer sig om at man ønsker billig transport og derfor har gjort det nemt og lave billig virksomhed. Dvs. så er det overladt til markedskræfterne kan man godt sige hvis man tæller
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fagbevægelsen og vores styrke med til markedskræfterne eller de mekanismer der er på arbejdsmarkedet i hvert fald og tage den handske op og se om man kan slås med det. Specifikt med Ryanair det var nogle fagforeninger der gjorde, som man plejer at gøre det i Irland og det er det jo i det er her tilfælde da det er et Irskfirma og der fik de godt nok nogen over nakken ,var små og var ikke stærke nok og begik fejl og blev stævnet i retten og alt muligt man ikke lige havde set komme dengang og som vi heller ikke er vant til på det danske arbejdsmarked. Men nu er de her og så bruger vi sådan set nogenlunde de traditionelle midle r som vi tror er efter dansk lov og ret og det er så det der bliver behandlet i arbejdsretten lige nu. Og når det er færdigt så bliver der formenligt en lovlig hovedkonflikt for den fagforening der er flybranchen personaleunion og så får vi en lovlig sympatikonflikt og det er ligesom os der er musklerne her kan man godt sige som skal gøre det effektiv. Os, HK og metal for den sags skyld, men primært os. 2. Er strategien om at nægte dialogen, en fremgangsmåde som du oplever andre virksomheder også benytter? Og hvad mener Du konsekvensen(erne) er ved sådan en strategi? Altså der jo en del af den Danske model er jo en samarbejd tænkning også det at man har et retssystem i fællesskab normalt altså det fagretslige system jo båret af parterne med tilføjelse af højesteretsdommer. Man kan sige at staten sikre at der er uvildig retssag og sådan. Men ellers er det jo langt hen ad vejen parterne selv der driver det retssystem man har og siger vi har lavet aftalerne det er også os selv der fortolker hvordan aftalerne skal forstås, hvis der ikke er enighed. Og går det galt så har man en udefrakommende en opmand og kan man ikke blive enige om andet så er det en højesteretsdommer meget tit landsretsdommer og kan man slet ikke blive enige så er det arbejdsretten der udpeger en og dvs. så er vi ude i det hvor det er lovreguleret, arbejdsretten er jo lovreguleret. Så den danske model er sådan lidt et samarbejde mellem en lille smule statslig regulering og meget parts regulering og det er jo det vi er vant til. Det bærende el ement i det kan man jo sige det er jo så overenskomsterne og i overenskomsterne der er jo en gensidig samarbejdspligt det er der også i hovedaftalen og det går jo selvfølgelig galt nogen gange med jævne mellemrum på det danske arbejdsmarked. Men konflikter i Danmark er jo intet at regne for i forhold til det man ser i andre lande, hvor man har sådan voldsomt store strejker eller såkaldt vilde strejker eller aktioner, blokalder, fysiske blokader på gader og veje og spærre grænser og lave aktioner, hælde sine produkter ud på vejen eller foran parlamenter eller hvad de nu kan finde på i Frankrig og Spanien og sådan noget. Det gør de jo fordi de ikke rigtig har de samme systemer som vi har! Så konsekvensen af det er at hvis ikke man har et eller andet aftale reguleret ting inklusiv, hvor man kan behandle det så bliver det jo sådan en mere, hvad skal man sige militant arbejdsmarked, hvor man så slås på anden vis og en af de måder man så slås på det er jo også det civilretslige system vi ser jo også nu at Ryanair har stævnet i hvert fald SAS som luftfartselskab, de har stævnet nogle medarbejdere her Page 2 of 121
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medlemmer i 3F i deres faglige klub har de stævnet og muligvis også stævnet Københavnslufthavn det har vi ikke fået bekræftet. De truer jo alle der er jo ingen tvivl om at de truer alle med juridiske søgsmål af forskellig art også selvom de ikke gør det og det havde vi egentligt også fået at vide i forvejen at de ville, der var nogle irske folk herover tidligere på året de sagde at de ville stævne det herfra og til helved et og de er ligeglade om de sådanset får noget ud af det bare de kan skræmme jer og trække tiden ud så kan det godt være at de taber bagefter.Men det er jo noget vi slet ikke er vant til det er jo meget sjældent at vi har civile søgsmål på arbejdsmarkedet i Danmark, fordi man har det fagretslige system til at håndtere det. Det er jo ikke fordi at vi altid som fagforeningsfolk står og klapper i vores små buttede hænder over arbejdsretten og sådan noget, bestemt ikke, men altså der er ingen tvivl om at vi får sådan lidt amerikanske tilstande eller hvad ved jeg hvor det hele foregår i restsale, det er i hvert fald ikke noget der gavner nogen. Så man kan sige at denne her lidt trygge rolige arbejdsmarked vi kender i de Nordiske lande med ind imellem nogle hårde arbejdskampe, men meget få ift. hvad vi ser ude i verden, det er truet af sådan noget her, at der kommer sådan et firma her som er fuldstændigt ligeglade og bygger på at være ligeglade med alt også med hvordan man normalt vil opføre sig overfor sine passager, det har de jo også været ligeglade med. Det har jo været deres strategi at når man får sådan en billig billet så må man jo bare finde sig i at vi er som man er så det er jo på alle områder og det er jo ikke særligt godt set fra sådan et Nordisk/skandinavisk synspunkt, hvis jeg var rejsende ville jeg slet ikke synes det var godt uanset hvad. Vi så da de skulle afsted der kom der nogen, der blev forsinket., der kom i rullestol altså handikappet det var bare ærgerligt de var ligeglade, hvorfor de var bl evet forsinket det kan godt være det var din rullestol der tog for lang tid at få ud af taxaen eller et eller andet, men vi lukker 40 minutter før, slut færdigt kan du ikke forstå det! 3. Er Ryanair det eneste problematiske selskab eller findes der også problemer med andre selskaber i branchen? Der findes helt sikkert også andre men sådan noget med kvaliteten af produktet det tør jeg ikke at udtale mig om for jeg kender ikke Easyjet eller Vueling eller Airberlin eller sådan et eller andet som rejseselskab og hvordan de opfører sig der det tør jeg ikke at sige noget om de har i hvert fald overenskomst og ikke nødvendigvis for krummede overenskomster slet ikke, men de har de der basale ting de anerkender fagforeningerne og de anerkender at der er kollektive aftaler og de har de der basale ting som man jo tror er løgn i 2015 som ikke findes i Danmark sådan noget med at få løn under sygdom og sådan noget. Hvis man så ikke helt ved hvor man er socialsikret, de siger jo at man er ansat i Irland, man er måske fr ansk eller Italiensk eller ukrainsk statsborger, hvor skal man så få sygedagpenge, hvis det overhovedet findes i ens land så det er nulindtægt man har når man er syg. Når man så ser på ham der piloten nede i Germanwings, der fløj
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
ind i alperne, som skjulte sin sygdom, så kan man sige det er jo så, uden at drage sammenligning i øvrigt, men man kan jo så sige at hvis man ikke får løn under sygdom får man så lyst til at gå på arbejde når man er syg det gør man jo nok. Det kan være at skjule en psykisk sygdom det kan være at skjule en anden sygdom fordi du får altså ikke løn når du ikke er på arbejde. Så på det punkt der er Ryanair nok de værste af de europæiske, der kan være nogle østeuropæiske vi ikke har styr på og vi ikke kender og de flyver jo heller ikke til KBH, men af dem der flyver til København altså alle der har base i KBH uden undtagelse har en overenskomst enten i deres hjemland eller i Danmark og når jeg siger deres hjemland så er det fordi Norgwegian er en undtagelse de har overenskomst i Norge, efter aftale mellem danske og norske fagforeninger så har de overenskomster i Norge. SAS har også sådan en lidt sjov konstellation, da deres piloter har både i Norge og Sverige og Danmark, så en svensk pilot der flyver i DK er sådan set på en svensk ove renskomst selvom han flyver i Danmark, men okay overenskomster og acceptable osv. SÅ er der de der asiatiske og mellemøstlige luftfartselskaber der er helt klart, altså jeg har ikke kendskab til dem alle sammen, men der er nogen af dem jeg ikke ville have lyst til at flyve med af etiske grunde, men det lægger udenfor vi kan ikke gøre noget ved dem der ikke har base i DK og så derudover er der også rækkeviden af hvad vi kan klare, hvis vi skulle klare nogle af verdens største luftfart selskaber som har uendeligt med penge, som de mellemøstlige har ikke , det kan vi slet ikke altså. Men den dag de laver en base i DK så kan vi begynde at snakke om det. Så det er sådan meget med at vi bliver nødt til at sondre mellem hvem der har base og hvem der ikke har base, ligesom hvis i nu køber tøj som i godt ved er lavet under lidt betænkelige forhold i Indien eller et eller andet det kan godt sådan lidt puha og findes der egentligt et mærke der er lidt bedre end de andre og sådan noget det er en ting, men skulle man st å og se dem blive produceret i DK og se det i fjernsynet og vide at her var urimelige forhold og man faktisk havde en mulighed for at gøre noget ved det så er vi i en anden situation. Vi er nu i den situation at hvis de har base i Danmark så kan vi gøre noget ved de urimelige forhold! 4. Hvilken indflydelse mener Du, at forbrugerne har på Ryanair konflikten? Det var meget i forlængelse af det andet det er jo meget smart, men det kan de nemlig have. De kan bestemt have indflydelse på dem. Vi så det med Fransk vin på et tidspunkt, hvordan fransk vin forsvandt jo ikke fuldstændigt, men det stoppede så og sige op og betød at det blev for evigt indført i markedet for vin i alle mulige andre lande end DK. Dengang de lavede den der atom prøve sprængning og de t kan man sige så forbrugerne kan have indflydelse på tingene. Jeg ville ikke selv flyve med Ryanair jeg prøver sådan nogenlunde selv at tænke mig om og købe økologisk mad det gør vi også her i fagforeningen så vidt det er muligt, kaffen er i hvert fald økologisk, mælken, det er jo overvejende økologisk man kan jo ikke være verdens mester på alle
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
distancer, men sådan nogenlunde. Sådan ville jeg også gøre hvis jeg skulle købe en flyrejse det er klart det er selvfølgelig en udfordring at fagbevægelsen må ikke som kampmiddel opfordre til forbruger boykot det er simpelthen fuldstændigt forbudt. Så det må vi ikke det er sådan en etisk overvejelse. Jeg må gerne sige det jeg siger nu at jeg ikke selv ville gøre det, men der er jo andre der rejser den forbrugermæss ige side af det og siger vælg et andet luftfartsselskab det er politiske partier og forbruger organisationer og alle mulige andre jo gøre så de kunne have indflydelse på det. Der er lavet nogle meningsmålinger og en af viser at der er meget stor forståelse overfor at i befolkningen 70% af befolkningen i gennemsnit altså LO og ikke LO medlemmer osv. i hele landet, den er nemlig også specificeret på hvor man bor og om man er medlem af LO forbundet, men 70% siger at det er socialt dumping. Nogle af de 70 % vil så have den holdning at de siger at det kan man bare ikke gøre noget ved, det er socialt dumping, men det er bare ærgerligt, men det er jo et imponerende højt antal der godt kan se at det er socialt dumping. Og så er der også noget at tale ind i altså har du lyst til at flyve med noget der er socialt dumping? Så er der så de 30 % der er ligeglade og det er jo så rigeligt til at holde liv i sådan et luftfartsselskab hvis det så er. 5. Hvordan tror Du, at sagen påvirker dansk lovgivning? Altså Danmark bliver udfordret hver gang der kommer nogen der er verdensmestre i at finde smuthuller, for eksempel betaler de jo ikke skat, altså deres ansatte. Det er fordi de finder smuthuller den her dobbeltbeskatnings aftale mellem Danmark og Irland, for ellers ville det heller ikke kunne lade sig gøre at få en løn på 10.000 kroner om måned når man lever i Danmark. Så vi lever på utrolige mange måder med nogen lov sæt også de her luftfarts regler de er født efter anden verdenskrig og i forbrødringens tid og det forinden samarbejde mellem nationer og alt muligt andet. De har ikke været tænkt på at der kom sådan nogen der er fuldstændigt ligeglade og bare skal finde huller. Det bør få indflydelse på dansk lovgivning og sådan set også på EU regler bl.a., nu vi sådan nede i noget af det der lidt langhåret, men altså blandt andet det her med, hvad land har man base i. Nu er det jo de flyvenebesætninger så det er jo ikke noget jeg er verdensmester i, men at de skal overholde basereglerne og at de ikke bare kan lave sho pping og sige jamen jeg har base i et land, jeg mener i øvrigt ikke at der er social sikring det land, der i Irland. Og jeg mener i øvrigt heller ikke at jeg skal overholde det her lands regler når jeg nu har base i det her land Det er jo det vi så med Ryanair hvor de tabte en retssag om det og skulle betale et meget stort beløb i Frankrig og sagde 'jamen så skrider vi herfra, så vil vi ikke være her mere'. Der trak de sig ud af Marseille i en tid og det er den måde, som de opererer på, så straffer de. Man kan jo sige her i KBH vil det ikke gøre noget hvis de forsvandt, men har de nu som de har i ja altså den lufthavn de flyver til som hedder Marseille der er de jo den eneste store måske
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
det eneste luftfart selskab. Jeg ved det ikke. De har det tit med at de kommer ind i sådan nogen gamle militær lufthavne eller sådan nogle stagnerede lufthavne Så de jo lige pludselig afhængige af dem der nede når de begynder at bygge op. Og hvis de så de truer med at trække sig væk, så kunne det jo godt være at de fik en lidt bedre behandling i det nationale lovsystem der så måtte være i har franskmændene altså været ligeglade. De har bare holdt fast og ført sag an mod dem og vundet den. 6. Hvilke reaktioner har I fået fra jeres medlemmer omkring den her sag? Jamen de er meget bekymrede for, at det her det breder sig. billedligt talt så er der et lille hjørne ude i Københavns lufthavn, hvor der er nogen, der ikke får løn under sygdom, ikke får pension og ikke får en løn man kan leve af i DK. Der er ikke nogen der ved hvor de bor endnu. Jeg håber ikke, at de bor ulovligt ude i lufthavnen i en lille barakke de har ude i lufthavnen det er nogle pæne pavilloner de har derude, men det får vi jo at se hvor de bor. Men det er vi selvfølgelig bekymret for at det her det breder s ig til andre. Så de er både solidariske overfor dem det får udover, men de er også bekymret for at det rammer dem selv. 7. Hvordan mener Du, at 3F kan påvirke sagen? Det er jo på mange måder dels politisk og 3f er jo med i det der hedder luftfarsråder og med i noget der er jo også en arbejdsgruppe om social dumping i dansk luffart og der er man jo med til at komme med nogen anbefalinger for nogen af er sådan lidt bløde og man kunne godt tænke sig dem lidt skrappere vi kunne også godt tænke os et opgør med det der med at transport bare skal være så billigt og ureguleret. Men vi kan være med til at rejse de politiske elementer der er af det sådan så der er lige vilkår. Så selskaberne skal opfylde samme betingelser så de ikke kan lave regelshopping, ikke kan lave skatteunddragelser. Nu kan i jo ikke se det når i laver båndet, men tegningen viser, hvordan de jonglerer rundt. Ansatte i et land, fly i et andet land, motorerne kunne for sin skyld være i et tredje land, få udbetalt deres løn i et femte land og bo i et 6. land og hvad ved jeg. Jeg ved ikke hvor mange forskellige enheder vi kommer op på. Norweigan, luftfartsselskabet Norwegian der er i to dele, der er Norwegian airshotte som er det norske og så er der også et i Danmark og Sverige, men hvad skal man sige den europæiske del af Norwegian de har sådan okay overenskomst. SÅ er er der Norwegian air international NAI, det kunne man så også godt kalde TIS Airlines og det er jo også dejligt at sige på engelsk, fordi de har base i Thailand, flyet er indregistreret i Irland og de er ansat i Singapore, det er dem der har billige rejser til USA. Det er jo sjovt nok USA er jo liberalismens land, men de har meget skrappere regulativer omkring sådan noget her end man har i EU og derfor så kan de endnu ikke få lov at flyve Danmark - USA med tredjeverdens besætning. De kan ikke få lov at flyve med en Thai besætning for eksempel så de er nødt til at flyve med en europæisk besætning med europæiske borgere, fordi Europa og
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
USA har nogle aftaler , men de kan altså godt være ansat et andet sted. Så de laver altså sådan nogen numre og det er så noget af det man politisk godt kan gå ind og arbejde på og de har altså ikke base i DK så der kan vi ikke lige gøre noget ve det. Norwegian air international, TIS Airlines, men der er det ellers det faglige som 3F kan gøre noget ved og det er så det vi prøver at gøre med de lovlige metoder , der finder der hedder konfliktvarsel, hvis det kommer dertil, at vi selv skal være part i det, direkte part i det, eller sympati konflikt varsel som er det det drejer sig om her med Ryanair. Men de der udenlandske selskaber der kommer hertil og skal operere lufthavnen, som hedder handling selskaber altså last og lost og skubbe flyet ud og rengøre toiletter og hvad ved jeg, catering. Dem har vi jo jævnligt varslet konflikter overfor for at få en løsning og for at få gang i en forhandling og det går også fint nok og det gør det med og uden konfliktvarsel. Der er ikke noget der! Nogen gange vælger vi ikke at gøre det. Det er sådan hvordan fornemmer vi det auraen er. Det sidste nye der er kommet i mensisaviation de var her jo for et par år siden og valgte dengang at lade mensesdiana at gå konkurs og så efterlod medarbejderne med en ordentlig regning og lufthavnen med en ordentlig regning og alle de rejsene der skulle afsted med en lang næse. Det var jo meget lidt pænt af dem det var jo en stor koncern og de valgte bare at sige at den danske del gik konkurs. De kunne lige så godt have sagt jamen vi er et stort brand her i Europa indenfor den her branche og så å vi lige leve med i nogle måneder at det måske ikke går så godt her så holder vi lige liv forretningen laver noget andet sætter folk på uddannelse laver nogle projekter lige holder det i gang. Og det der især er grotesk og når man ser tilbage n så var det bare det de skulle have gjort, fordi så havde de klaret sig pisse godt og fået en god position. For der kom selvfølgelig nogen og fyldte, det var da Sterling gik konkurs, der kom jo nogen og fyldte hullerne op efter Sterling og så havde de fået dem som kunder garanteret, Norwegian kom og udvidede kraftigt og nu er de kommet tilbage her 5 år efter med Norwegian som kunde og vi valgte så i det her tilfælde ikke at varsle konflikt, fordi vi kendte dem i forvejen og vi mente godt at vi havde fat i dem og det har vi jo også. Men altså det er noget af det vi kan gøre vi kan bruge traditionelle kampmidler, forhandlingsmidler, kampmidler og strejke varsel er jo en invitation til forhandling det er jo ikke fordi vi ønsker en konflikt, fordi det er jo også noget der er dyrt for os, hvis vi skal til at lave konflikt så skal vi jo forsørge folk og jeg er ikke sikker på at de bliver pisseglade hvis de skal gå på konflikt understøttelse, hvis det er nogen der i forvejen får en fuld løn i en lufthavn og så skal til og leve med konfliktunderstøttelse. Så derfor er det jo ikke noget vi drømmer om at gøre, men vi er helt klar til at gøre det hvis det er nødvendigt. SÅ der er de to spor det politiske påvirkning og det bruger vi alle mulige forskellige tider og det bruger vi rigtig meget tid på. Det er jo sådan noget den rigtige fagbevægelse bruger meget tid og energi på. De der kristelige eller et eller andet de jo aldrig nogensinde gør eller har gjort. Så lobby virksomhed både på dansk og på europæisk plan, kontakt til politikere deltage i sådan noget som råd og nævn og kommissioner og
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
alt det der. Og så er der det helt almindelige faglige arbejde med at kræve overenskomst og om nødvendigt konflikt for at få en overenskomst. 8. Hvad er det bedst mulige udfald af det her? Det er at der er nogenlunde lige vilkår i brancherne ikke. Det kan aldrig blive helt ens og det skal det heller ikke være! nogen steder har man en firmafilosofi, der prioritere nogen ting og andre steder har medarbejderne nogen ønsker så det er også i dag en variation. Nogen har for eksempel kortere arbejdstid, fordi det er prioriteret igennem årene, end andre har. Til gengæld har de så måske mindre pensionsindbetaling eller et eller andet, men lidt mindre i løn, fordi de arbejde færre timer de får en fuld månedsnorm udbetalt, men arbejde så lidt færre timer og den månedsnorm afspejler så at de arbejder lidt færre timer. Så det er det vi går efter at der skal være nogenlunde lige vilkår og det gør vi af to grunde eller af mange grunde, men i hvert fald af to grunde og det er at prisen for en arbejdsgiver, der kommer udefra og skal købe en times arbejdskraft indenfor det vi kalder handling flyhåndtering skal være nogenlunde den samme. Om så den er bygget op af pension og om arbejdstid og noget andet i større og mindre grad, men bare bundlinjen det det koster og købe den er blevet nogenlunde ens, plus/minus og lidt udsving. Så er der jo fair konkurrence og så sker der jo heller ikke så meget for der er jo hele tiden skift. Det ene vinde ene det andet taber en kunde og der bliver flyttet meget der nogen, som har lavet det samme arbejde for det samme firma i mange år, men de gør det måske for en femte arbejdsgiver nu. SÅ det vil ikke opleve... Det kan godt være deres indkomst er sat forskelligt sammen , men det de grundlæggende skal spise kartofler for at det er sat lidt forskelligt sammen, men de får sådan nogenlunde livsindkomst får de nogenlunde det samme selvom de er hoppet rundt mellem forskellige firmaer og det er jo selvfølgelig vigtigt for os at de oveni den usikkerhed det giver, kommer vi med over eller kommer vi ikke med over, er det hele det sammen og hvad nu med ditten og datten, så i hvert fald at de ved at når de skal se tilbage på deres arbejdslivs deres livsindkomst har været ved at være i lufthavnen ikke er sådan væsentligt påvirket af at de har hoppet rundt. Så det er det der er vores største interesse, men vi er selvfølgelig også interesseret i at der skal være lige konkurrencevilkår for firmaerne der kommer udefra. For det er totalt liberaliseret marked, der er ikke nogen regulering ellers. 9. Vi har læst en rapport fra Transportministeriet om nogen initiativer der er blevet taget. Kender du til dem eller har du læst dem? Ja, men er det ikke dem med de 5 eller 7 anbefalinger? Jo, mener du at det vil kunne løse problemet?
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
Ja det er sådan lidt varmt luft. Det vil hjælpe hvis man ikke kan lave regelshopping altså med lovvalg og med landevalg, basevalg, det vil helt klart hjælpe. Det vil det ! For de flyvende det jo ikke vores problem, det jo de flyvendes problem, der har det der. 10. Hvor stor en indflydelse mener Du, at fagforeningerne i Danmark kan have på EU's lovgivning? Jamen altså i hvert fald en indflydelse der står mål med vores størrelse. Vi jo har jo det der særkende i norden at vi synes at arbejdsmarkedets parter meget skal regulerer tingene og vi har også generelt en høj organisation procent de to ting hænger jo sammen. så kan man jo sige Sydeuropa, der har man en lav organisations procent, og derfor måske mere interesseret i at EU skal regulere mange ting. Så det vi ønsker det er at EU skal lave klare regler om forskellige ting, men ikke blande sig ind i konkrete løn og arbejdsforhold, men der må godt være arbejdstids regler eller et eller andet altså ting, som og det jo også vigtigt for den flyvende del, det må godt være EU reguleret og alt sådan noget med lovvalg og base valg og også altså omgås det som man for eksempel siger at selvom du er kontraktet når man godt ved at det er en fiktiv kontraktansættelse. Du er i virkeligheden ansat og under arbejdsanvisningen og dem der har instruktions og ledelses ansvaret for dig det er for eksempel Ryanair, så er det for vores skyld fint at sige at så må EU gerne bestemme altså skal de sidestilles med rigtige ansatte. Og så kan de komme udenom nogle af de der fidusnumre med det man kalder arme og ben firmaer, som ender med at de hverken betaler skat eller får pension eller sygedagpenge eller noget som helst. Men vores indflydelse på det er selvfølgelig også lidt op til os selv, hvor meget indflydelse vi vil have, der er der lidt i en dansk fagbevægelse sådan, fordi man har den der holdning om at de ikke skal røre ved løn og arbejdsforhold sådan generelt, altså dem vi aftaler i Danmark. Så har der også været lidt tilb ageholdenhed ved at blande sig i eller prøve at påvirke de andre ting hvor man, som i forvejen er lovreguleret og det kunne vi godt blive bedre til det er der ingen tvivl om. 12. Forventer du at der kommer en påvirkning af EU's lovgivning af den her sag? Ja altså vi vil prøve at påvirke det og har gjort det sådan set længe. Ikke specielt Ryanair men social dumping i lufthavnen og også om andre emner i luftfarten vi har arbejdet meget med partikel forurening for eksempel og med klima spørgsmål . Det synes jeg er fint hvis EU kan regulere på sådan nogen ting med mindre udledning og sådan
noget.
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er
at
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der
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maksimum regler
altså hvis minimum bliver maksimum altså hvis man ikke må kræve noget der er mindre end det. Og det er sådan noget man ser nogen gange fra EU at de siger for eksempel noget indenfor legetøj eller et eller andet mærkeligt, at jamen nu har vi så lagt os på det her niveau så er der ikke nogen lande der må kræve mindre end det. Altså når først et produkt er godkendt i et land så skal det også være godkendt i andre lande
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
og det vil vi selvfølgelig ikke have. Så vi vil arbejde for at minimums grænser, men selvfølgelig sådan så lande og love stramme yderligere, nu er vi selvfølgelig over i det miljømæssige med partike l forurening ikke, men det kunne også være om andre ting om brændstof og der er mange muligheder. Men konkret altså til den faglige helt konkret til den faglige kamp der tror jeg ikke EU kommer til at blande sig ind i forhold til noget med Ryanair andet end indirekte hvis med sådan noget her med lovvalg og basevalg det kunne de meget vel komme til at blande sig i. 13. Hvad mener 3F er minimumskravene for en god arbejdsplads? Hvor går grænsen? Jamen det er jo enormt svært at definerer for hvad er godt arbejde, men det er altså for det første at der er et lønniveau og sikringsniveau, der ligesom svarer til det land man lever i. For her for eksempel Ryanairs ansatte de har pligt til at bo her de har pligt til at bo indenfor 40 km indenfor basen. Dvs. måske kunne de lige bo over på spidsen af Øresundsbroen ikke blandt andet i den anden ende altså de har pligt til at bo der. De skal have en løn og en socialsikring af en art, som svarer til det land de i øvrigt bor i, som spiller sammen med de sociale sikrings ting der er så er vi tilbage ved sådan noget ved løn under sygdom eller arbejdsmarked pension. Når man skal bo og leve i Danmark så går det ikke at man skal sættes af bagerst på perronen fordi man ender måske også med at bo her om 20 år og så er det ufedt at se at resten af samfundet de har altså fået 12% af deres løn betalt i alle de 20 år til pension og jeg har fået ingenting. SÅ bliver de fattige til den tid. Med det lønniveau de så får her vil de også være fattige nu. Det man på nudansk kalder 'workingp oor' eller på tysk 'arm trots arbeit', altså at man er fattig selvom man har et fuldtidsarbejde ikke. Så det er jo selvfølgelig en basal ting det er at man kan leve af det på en anstændigvis i forhold til det land man bor i og betale skat så man er med til at finansiere det samfund man bor i. Så er det selvfølgelig vigtigt at man ikke bliver syg af at gå på arbejde. Så de der basale ting og om både at der er nogen, der har ret til at kontrollere en altså arbejdssyn eller hvad ved jeg ikke. Bedrift sundhedstjenesteting og noget i den dur og lave miljøkontrol og sådan noget. at der opfylder man de samme ting som de andre og er rask. SÅ er der den tredjedimension på alt arbejde det er er det et godt arbejde i øvrigt altså kan man bruge hovedet hvis man gerne vi l det og sådan noget kan man nøjes med at bruge hænderne hvis man gerne vil det eller begge dele. Det er jo sådan en anden ting og det er jo meget individuelt, hvad den ene synes er godt arbejde er jo ikke det samme som det den anden synes det arbejder vi jo også med selvfølgelig altså det udviklende arbejde 14. Hvad mener Du at medarbejderne i Ryanair skal gøre for at forbedre deres arbejdsvilkår? Er der noget de kan gøre? Det er der i højgrad ! de kan organisere sig og det gør de jo også til en hvis grad men fordi det er som det er kørt det firma så er det jo fuldstændigt hemmeligt og alt, nu er det jo ikke os, men alt den kontakt som de Page 10 of 121
Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
flyvendes fagforening har haft med dem foregår jo totalt i hemmelighed og det er jo ikke så lidt kontakt som de har haft skulle man hilse og sige det jo ikke sådan at altså alt det vi får det får vi jo fra nogen af de ansatte i Ryanair vi har fået kontrakter og lønsager og ting og sager. Så de skal organiserer sig og de skal slås og de skal være solidariske i de lande de bor i og vi skal også behandle dem som kollegaer . Det dur ikke at vi ligesom siger nej men det er også Ryanair et eller andet og gøre dem synonym de kan sgu ikke gøre for at de arbejder for et skod firma. Og der var for eksempel en journalist der fik fat i nogen af dem over på basen i Billund. 8 unge mennesker fra Italien, Spanien og 2-3 østeuropæiske lande, de deler et hus er ikke hjemme samtidigt så det er jo to og to på værelserne, men de er jo ikke hjemme samtidigt eller ikke så tit hjemme samtidigt så det var fint nok. De tjente de der ca. 10000 kroner om måneden betalte jo ikke skat og siger hvis jeg nu var arbejdsløs i Spanien. Det kan jeg ikke huske hvor lang tid det er at de får hjælp dernede det er kort tid og det er ikke så højt niveau. Så de gør det jo ikke for sjov skyld og de er også meget korte. Det er en af de luftfartsselskaber med højest gennemstrømning, hvad man nu ved om dem og det er jo fordi de holder sig notorisk hemmeligt om alting ikke, men det er altså noget af det de kan gøre de kan, vi skal behandle dem solidarisk, ordentligt og som kollegaer bare være der og de skal være solidariske og selv henvende sig til de fagforeninger i de lande som de er i og så må fagbevægelsen strikke et medlemskab sammen til dem, de r ligesom matcher at de tjener så lidt som de gør og det har man jo en vis succes med i det der hedder Ryan air pilot group RPG og som i kan se på Facebook og hjemmesider og sådan noget. Og det er jo helt fuldstændigt absurd at have en fagforening der ligesom en hemmelig loge, hvor de dårligt nok kender hinanden fordi der kommer spioner ind og sådan noget. Det gør de jo selvfølgelig og de har med møje og besvær fået sat en bestyrelse op og de mødes i hemmelighed og sådan noget ikke. Det man jo ser i pressen er altid fra fyrede folk stort set med Ryan air. Så det er det de kan gøre de kan organisere sig helt basalt. 15. Hvad mener Du, at konsekvenserne for Danmark som samfund er i sådan en sag? Altså det er jo i en eller anden grad en nedadgående spiral, at så og det har vi jo set for længst vi har set at Norwegian siger at vi er nødt til at kunne matche Ryanair og SAS siger vi er nødt til at kunne matche Norwegian og da Norwegian lavede denne her konstruktion jeg fortalte om før, TIS konstruktionen der havde en direktør og en anden en fra SAS de havde en kronik i Børsen eller Jyllandsposten, hvor de siger at nu må politikerne gøre op vil de have det sådan her, for så gør vi også sådan og det vil sig så begynder man at "udflaire" arbejdspladser og det vi ser her med Ryanair det er at vi også mister arbejdspladser eller altså de stjæler arbejdspladser, det er jo ren kanibalisering.Så altså vi mister arbejdspladser og vi mister skatteindtægter og vi mister borgere og vi får sådan et pendler samfund af underbetalte folk fra andre lande
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
der kommer her til og arbejder billigt i et stykke tid og ikke betaler skat. Og så skal danskerne begynde at tænke lidt på, hvordan tror du så det går på lidt længere sigt det kan godt være vi lige fik en lidt billigere flyrejse, men hvem er der til at betale min folkepension eller hvem er der til at betale når jeg skal på hospitalet og når mine børn skal i børnehave. Så det får store konsekvenser. Stille og roligt så vil det undergrave det vi kalder et velfærdssamfund, så enkelt er det egentligt Har du noget du vil tilføje til sidst her? Nej egentlig ikke.
II: Interview with Anders Mark Jensen from FPU 1. Hvad mener Du er problematikken bag hele Ryanair debatten? Hvad handler det helt konkret om? Det handler om social dumping og det handler om den danske model. Det handler om at du har en virksomhed, i det her tilfælde Ryanair som kommer til Danmark og ønsker og producerer som en dansk virksomhed på det danske marked, men uden at være en del af det danske marked og derme d ikke opfylde lige vilkår for konkurrence i luftfarten i Danmark. Derudover så handler det selvfølgelig også om, hvordan de tager deres forhold for deres ansatte med ind i en model i Danmark som bare ikke passer sammen. Kort sagt. 2. Er strategien om at nægte dialogen, en fremgangsmåde som du oplever andre virksomheder også benytter? Og hvad mener Du konsekvensen(erne) er ved sådan en strategi? Jeg har dem godt nok lige foran mig de her spørgsmål, men jeg tror ikke jeg forstår det. Det er bare mere om det i har oplevet som Ryan air gør lige nu, har i oplevet det udefra andre virksomheder også? Er der nogen andre der også har opført sig på samme måde ? Nej, eller der er selvfølgelig nogen, som kan minde lidt om dem, men Ryanair er jo helt specifik, både i den måde som de behandler deres medarbejdere på, som er langt fra hvad normalen er, men også i forhold til hvordan man agere overfor fagbevægelsen for dem er det gået hen og blevet sådan lidt, det er jo en del af deres forretningsmodel ikke at behandle deres medarbejdere godt. at de nærmest holder sig stolte af at man ikke har noget med fagbevægelsen at gøre, fordi det er sådan en politisk sag for dem og så handler det selvfølgelig om at tjene så mange penge som overhovedet muligt og fuck de ansatte for at sige det ligeud. Så vi har jo oplevet grimme virksomheder før, men jeg tror simpelthen ikke på at der er nogen, der kan
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
slå Ryanair på hvor dårligt man kan behandle ens medarbejdere og det er der alligevel noget der har slået deres rekord i. Hvem kunne det ellers være? Kunne du nævne nogen navne ? Jamen altså sjovt nok så er det jo low-cost selskaber, som ligger i spidsen i forhold til at behandle sine medarbejdere dårligt fordi det selvfølgelig handler om at komme ind på et marked hvor at man skal kun ne tilbyde de mest billige billetter der overhovedet kan lade sig gøre og så er det så personalet der betaler prisen. Du har et selskab som Norwegian som bestemt ikke er klassens bedste dreng i klassen. Så har du et som 'wauw' er og så har du selvfølgelig også noget nede i Mellemøsten også. 4. Hvilken indflydelse mener Du, at forbrugerne har på Ryanair konflikten? Altså groft sagt eller kort sagt kan man også sige der er jo ikke noget Ryanair hvis der ikke er nogen forbrugere . Hvad siger du kunne du ikke lige gentage det ? Altså uden forbrugere så er der jo ikke noget virksomhed der hedder Ryanair. Så de har vel alt afgørende betydning for Ryanair's success, det er selvfølgelig om de har forbrugerne og i der tilfælde kunderne med. 5. Hvordan tror Du, at sagen påvirker dansk lovgivning? Hvis den overhovedet gør? Jaaa altså det jo der hvor der er mange, der tager fejl for der er jo ikke nogen rigtig dansk lovgivning der omfatter det her. Arbejdsmarkedet er jo et sted i Danmark hvor man hvad skal man sige selv aftaler sine egne ting på arbejdsmarkedet, så har du få ferieting, få barsels ting en smule om funktionærloven som kun omfatter visse dele af grupper visse dele af samfundet, som ligesom er de eneste der regulerer arbejdsmarkedet så selvfølgelig noget i forhold til hovedkonflikter og sådan noget men alt andet er jo overenskomst stof og aftale stof. Så på den måde vil de selvfølgelig ikke have nogen indflydelse på dansk lovgivning fordi der findes jo sådan set ikke en egentlig dansk lovgivning på dette område
6. Hvilke reaktioner har I fået fra jeres medlemmer? Altså for vores egne medlemmer, de flyvende? Ja altså piloterne og 'KabineDanmark', det er jo en fagforening der er eget af vores medlemmer 100% så det jo egentligt dem der bestemmer hvad det er som vi skal lave som fagforening så det er dem der har bedt os om at gøre det her. Så de er også ret kritiske? Nej de er bekymret, de er både bekymrede for det personale der skal leve under de forhold som Ryanair byder dem i Danmark som slet ikke matcher de forhold som de har kæmpet hårdt og så er de selvfølgelig bekymret for at det er deres tur næste gang hvis Ryanair får held med deres så og sige spil. Jeg skal lige høre har I egentligt fået nogen henvendelser direkte fra Ryanair ansatte? Ja. Okay hvad har deres bekymring været? Det er jo dybt fortroligt, ja
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
men de er jo hamerende bange, men det er jo nogen der er bekymrede over de forhold og ikke bryder sig om det og ikke bryder sig om at være en del af det spil, som Ryanair ønsker at der er i Danmark.
7. Hvordan mener Du, at FPU kan påvirke sagen? Ja du kan jo sige at hvis vi ikke havde taget sagen altså hvis ikke ligesom havde taget det op det her så var der ikke sket noget som helst. SÅ det er jo klart at nu beder vi jo om lov til at konfli kte over en overenskomst, det er jo det vi gør. Vi har bedt om en overenskomst, men det kan vi ikke få, så er vi så gået til arbejdsretten og sagt at så vil vi godt have lov til at konflikte og få en overenskomst som man jo gør på det danske arbejdsmarkedet. Det er jo klart at hvis vi finder den så er det jo stort, og så er vi selvfølgelig med til at sikre en lige balance på arbejdsmarkedet både for medarbejdere, men også for konkurrencen. Og hvordan ser udsigten ud er det sådan? Nå men vi er stadigvæk i retten.
10. Hvordan forventer Du at EU's lovgivning bliver påvirket af sådan en sag? EU's altså at den bliver påvirket. Ja men det er jo ikke helt sådan som det fungerer. Det fungerer sådan at EU har jo som sådan ikke noget med det her at gøre. Det er dansk arbejdsmarkedet og den danske model ligesom man har nogle andre modeller i de fleste andre medlemslande i EU, hvor man har lovbestemt minimumsløn og sådan noget det har man jo ikke i Danmark det er noget man aftaler i overenskomsterne og det betyder jo at den eneste måde som EU kommer ind på det her det er jo at hvis vi taber i arbejdsretten, hvis vi skulle gå hen og tabe i arbejdsretten, hvilket vi selvfølgelig ikke gør så kan EU blive indblandet på to måder enten siger arbejdsretten at det her er de ikke kompetente nok til at skulle behandle i et dansk arbejdsmarked system, derfor skal de spørge EU domstolen om vejledningen, så ryger den til EU domstolen, men det betyder at det er en dansk dommer, der skal erklære sig selv inkompetent og sende den ti l EU. Eller også så skal vi vinde sagen og så skal de til EU og sige at den danske model er ulovlig i forhold til EU, hvilket vi tror skulle være rimeligt urealistisk. Det er jo det Ryanair gerne vil det er måske der hvor der er nogen der bliver lidt forvi rret en gang imellem. 11. Hvad mener FPU er minimumskravene for en god arbejdsplads? Hvor går grænsen? Det er jo svært at sige for vi laver jo ikke en konservativ stupid aftale for alle piloter i Danmark eller for alle stewardesser i Danmark. Vi laver en aftale pr flyselskab sådan så aftalen passer til de behov som medarbejderne har i de enkelte flyselskaber og så hvis virksomheden også har et behov i forhold til at finde produktionsplads og forskellige flyvere og så videre, så det kommer meget an på arbejdspladsen for os er det bare vigtigt at man kan få en løn som man kan leve af og som er anstændig og som giver en eller anden form Page 14 of 121
Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
for tryghed. Altså vi forlanger ikke luksusgoder den tid er forbi det ved vi også godt vi skal bare have anstændige forhold. 12. Hvad mener Du at medarbejderne i Ryanair skal gøre for at forbedre deres arbejdsvilkår? Er der noget andet de kan gøre udover at klage? De skal jo selvfølgelig organisere sig i en fagforening og på den måde stå stærkere overfor deres arbejdsgiver , som i det her tilfælde selvfølgelig er Ryanair. Problemet er jo bare at de er pisse bange. 13. Hvad mener Du, at konsekvenserne for Danmark er i denne sag? altså fremtidigt Ja altså der er ikke konsekvenser for Danmark som sådan, men man kan sige at det her det handler jo meget om at arbejdsretten, som skal give os ret i at det selvfølgelig er et dansk anliggende og dermed skal behandles i Danmark og dermed selvfølgelig har konflikts-ret på området så vi har andre områder og arbejdsstyrken har jo ret til lockout osv. hvis man ikke hvad skal man sige imødekommer det så bliver det jo svært fremadrettet og overhoved som helst at lave noget i den retning i Danmark og det kan jo have konsekvenser for om den danske model overhovedet kan overleve i et globaliseret EU samfund.
III: Timeline 1985 – It is founded by the Ryan family. 1986 – It gets permission to operate from Dublin to London Luton and challenges both British Airways and Aer Lingus who cut down on their ticket prices in response. The fare was 99pounds and was less than half price of the other two airlines’ fares. Ryanair carried 82,000 passengers in its first year. 1987 – It acquires its first jet aircraft by renting it from the Romanian state airline Tarom. The arrival of the aircrafts increased its network with 15 routes from Dublin to Liverpol, Manchester, Glasgow and Cardiff and opened up new routes from Luton to Cork, Shannon, Galway, Waterford and Knock in the West of Ireland. Ryanair had in total 322,000 passengers in its second year. 1988 – It rented another three jets and had 6 in total from Tarom and another brand new aircraft from GPA to service the smaller Irish regional airports. It launched 2 new routes from Dublin to Brussels from Monday to
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
Friday and once per week to Munich. Ryanair launched a business class and created a Frequent Flyer Club. It had 592,000 passengers this year. Ryanair it was on the verge of going bankrupt. 1989 – It leased another two aircrafts in order to replace the other small ones. The business class service was not proved successful and therefore dismissed and the Frequent Flyer Club was closed. Ryanair carried 644,000 passengers. Aer Lingus was ordered away from Stansted and would leave the routes from Dublin to both Liverpool and Munich to Ryanair in three years. In return, Ryanair had to stay away from the route Manchester to Paris and leave it to Aer Lingus. The decision was implemented quickly even though there was several political fights. Both Aer Lingus and politicians about the decision that was perceived as a national sabotage. (Hall and Kongskov, 2015) 1990 – In its first three years it experienced a rapid growth and intense price competition with British Airways and Aer Lings. It went through a substantial restructuring. It copied the Southwest Airlines’ low fares model and the airline was re-launched as Europe’s first low fares airline. It reduced its fares from 99pounds to 59pounds and had a total of 745,000 passengers this year. 1991 – The passenger traffic collapsed due to the Gulf War. The fares were lowered and three aircrafts were returned back to their owners. Some of the regional routes were retracted. The traffic and employment numbers fell but were still able to make a profit for the first time which was a earning of 293,000pounds for the year. It had 651,000 passengers. 1992 – It continues to restructure and cutting routes from 19 to 6 routes. It lowered fares so it still got a traffic growth and had 945,000 passengers. And in August it carried over 100,000 passengers in jus t one month for the first time in its history. 1993 – Ryanair got a warning from the Irish Government when it launched its new routes with daily flights from Dublin to Birmingham and that would not make Aer Lingus happy. It acquired 4 ex -British Airways aircraft and started replacing its previous ones which were scheduled for redelivery or retirement in 1994. Due to continuous growth it carried 1,120,000 passengers. 1994 and 1995 – Replacement of aircraft in 1994 and in 1995 Ryanair overtook Aer Lingus and British Airways titles and became the largest passenger airline on the biggest international scheduled route in Europe, Dublin London route. It also became the largest Irish airline on every route they operated in from Dublin. It bought 4
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
more jets from Transavia and had a total of 11 aircrafts. It carried 2,260,000 passengers in total throughout 1995. 1996 – Its growth continued with the addition new routes and bought 8 more aircrafts that was operated by Lufthansa. The European Union completes the Open Skies deregulation of the airline business and thereby enabled airlines to compete freely throughout Europe. 1997 – It launched its first routes after the open skies regulation was introduced, to Stockholm, Skavsta, Oslo Torp, Paris Beauvais and Brussels Charleroi. It became a successful public company. Ryanair got on the stock market after the first day Ryanair's employees earned over 100m in shares. In December, the UK Civil Aviation Authority published punctuality statistics for the Dublin-London route. Furthermore, it was confirmed that Ryanair was the most on-time airline on the route. It had a total of 3,730,000. The Irish labor union SIPTU demanded higher salaries and working conditions for Ryanair’s workers in Dublin. However, Ryanair claimed that some of its workers had threatened their passengers and employees and should therefor not get higher salaries. (http://www.fagbladet3f.dk/temaer/ryanair/d89b1322b3114ca9be8756b7db54c459-20141106-seryanairs-mange-skandaler - Last accessed 27.05.2015)
Dublin -London
On-Times
Ryanair
76.1%
Aer Lingus
75.7%
British Midland
66.0%
British Airways
61.0%
1998 and 1999– continues to open up new routes in Europe. Ryanair was voted as Airline of the Year and the Best Managed National Airline in the world by International Aviation Week Magazine. It got new aircraft and offered lower airfares. It had its first route to Aarhus in Denmark. It lowered fares down to 19.99 on the Dublin-London route and has carried over 5million passengers in 1999. Page 17 of 121
Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
2000 – Launched Europe’s largest booking website. It added 8 more aircrafts and becomes the first to sponsor the Skynews Weather reports and as a result of that Ryan air started to become known by most Europeans. It now carried over 7 million passengers. 2001 – It selected its first continental European base at Brussels Charleroi Airport with 18 crafts in total. In August it carried more than 1million passengers in one month, which was a record for the company. After 9/11, there was a downturn in the traffic and caused an increase in oil prices. The British Pilot labor union BALPA asked for a recognition by Ryanair as a representative of the British pilots. Ryanair launched a secret ballot among the pilots and the poll showed that 80% of the pilots would not let BALPA represent them. According to BALPA,
Ryanair’s
pilots
were
told
to
vote
no
if
they
did
not
want
to
be
fired. (http://www.fagbladet3f.dk/temaer/ryanair/d89b1322b3114ca9be8756b7db54c459-20141106-seryanairs-mange-skandaler - Last accessed 27.05.2015) 2002 – It selected Frankfurt Hahn as its second Continental European base. With the inclusion of its new routes it brought an end to the high fares of Lufthansa. Ryanair became number 1 in Europe of customer service. It now had 15,736,936 passengers in total. 2003 – Opens up two new continental European bases from Milan Bergamo and Stockholm Skavsta. In total it had 73 new routes and it carried 2million passengers in one month in July which was a new record for the company. 2004 and 2005 – Named the most popular airline on Google due to it being the most searched travel website in Europe. Additionally, it expanded by launching new bases and adding more aircrafts. It had the youngest aircrafts in the world with an average aircraft age of just two years. Furthermore, It beats EasyJet on punctuality additionally it carried more passengers in August than British Airways and got the title 'the World’s favorite Airline' and had 34,768,813 passengers. However, in 2004, Ryaniar offered its Irish pilots that they could be trained in new aircrafts if they, for a period of 5 years did not try to get their labor union IALPA to enter into an agreement with Ryanair. If they broke this agreement every pilot had to reimburse the cost of the training they had gotten which meant that each pilot would have to pay 120,000 kroner each. Another controversy that Ryanair was involved in was at 3rd February, where the EU commission assessed that it was illegal when Ryanair in 2001 and 2003 got millions of state aid for using Charleroi airport in Belgium. In 2005, Ryanair announced that their employees would get a wage increase of 3% but the agreement would be
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
negotiated individually with each employee and the ones who wanted their labor unions to interfere were not allowed to get a wage increase. Additionally, Ryanair’s employees were banned from charging their private phones
at
work. (http://www.fagbladet3f.dk/temaer/ryanair/d89b1322b3114ca9be8756b7db54c459-
20141106-se-ryanairs-mange-skandaler - Last accessed 27.05.2015) 2006 – Becomes the world’s first airline to carry more than 4million international passengers in one months. Below is the growth in passenger in millions: 2007 to 2010 – Ryan air expands further with the addition of around 90 new aircrafts, the opening of around 223 new routes and 15 new bases. which also led it to create 1400 new jobs. Ryanair carried almost 10,000 passengers per employee which is ten times higher than its principal competitors. Its profits rose 200%. Many of the competitors announced losses or cutbacks and even more got bankrupts due to the global recession . It had in the end of 2010 72,062,659 passengers. Additionally, Ryanair also refused in 2007 to cooperate with labor unions. Ryanair itself appointed which employees who should to represent their colleagues in negotiations about wages and working conditions and not the employees themselves. The Irish labor l aw did not take the agreements with these representatives as collective bargaining but the Irish Supreme Court had decided in 1997 that the agreements made were valid. In 2010, the director of Ryanair Michael O’leary proposed to take away the second pilot in the aircrafts. The alternative was that if the pilot got a heart attack the attendants would instead take over. It was never implemented but met lots of criticism from pilots. (http://www.fagbladet3f.dk/temaer/ryanair/d89b1322b3114ca9be8756b7db54c459-20141106-se-ryanairsmange-skandaler - Last accessed 27.05.2015) The average employment numbers in Ryanair rise by 21% to 6,369. Within that number 1,526 people are promoted. We launch our second Cabin Crew Charity Calendar (2009) with the 100,000 going to the homeless charity 'The Dublin Simon Community'. 2011 and 2012 – The average fare was now 48 and Ryanair continued expanding and getting more aircrafts. Despite the global recession it carried 79,325,820 passengers. However, on the 9th January 2011, Ryanair closed its base located in Marseille, France this was because the French authorities sued them for hiring 200 employees under cheap, Irish contracts. Which resulted in Ryanair having to pay a fee of 60 million kroners, since it was proved that 120 employees was employed on Irish contract and therefor had not been given
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
enough in wages. Furthermore, Ryanair was also sued by the Belgian labor Union, CNE, since the CNE meant that Ryanair did not follow Belgian, this started out with the Union criticizing that employees had to pay their own uniform which cost them 200 kroner a month In 2012 a lot of cases occurred where former workers from Ryanair starts speak about their working conditions and thereby informing people about this. For instance, Alessandra Cocca got a job at Ryanair in Norway. She stated that she got 10.000Dkk monthly and had to pay a fee of 1,500kr in her first 15months and did not receive salary under sickness neither for working overtime and did not have a fixed working schedule which meant that she could be asked to work at any given time. furthermore, if she wanted to quit her job she would have to pay 1,500kr for the administration. Also, the flight attendants only got paid for the time that the plane was in the air even though the staff also had many tasks while the plane was on the ground. Additionally, the contract forbade her to disclose any information about her work to the press. In the beginning of July, Ryanair came up with the idea that passengers should stand up during the flight this proposal was however rejected by the aviation authorities. Ryan air was also criticized internally, since the British Channel 4, had a documentary with pilots from Ryanair that were criticizing their airline where they among other things mentioned their concern for the passengers security and safety and feared to tell their bosses about that. One of the pilots was l ater fired. In December 2012 the Scandinavian airline SAS required a tax-check of for instance Ryanair who hire their pilots as false selfemployed in Ireland. (http://www.fagbladet3f.dk/temaer/ryanair/d89b1322b3114ca9be8756b7db54c459-20141106-se-ryanairsmange-skandaler - Last accessed 27.05.2015) 2013-2015 – The average fare was of 46 and no fuel surcharges, despite another ste ep increase in fuel costs. It opened 7 new bases and had 68 bases and over 1,600 routes. The passenger number was at 81,668,285. Ryanair announced, in the end of October, that it will open 3 routes from Copenhagen Airport in March 2015 and follow up with another 10 the following year. The 12th of August in 2013, the independent group, Ryanair Pilots Group conducted a survey among 1000 Ryanair pilots where 90% of the pilots responded that Ryanair suppressed their ability to draw attention to problems with the flight. In terms of Ryanair and Denmark, there came The 25th of July a new agreement between Ireland and Denmark, which was about the taxes and which stated that Ryanair employees in Denmark also has to pay taxes in Denmark. Denmark was inspired by France’s reaction and the decision from Marseille gave hope to the Danish trade unions that they too can succeed in the Labor Court.
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
On the 20th of February, two of the management representatives of Ryanair, one of them being David O’Brien and the airline’s lawyer had a meeting in Denmark with LO’s lawyer, Peter Nisbeth, the Avion industry Staff Union’s vise chairman Anders Mark Jensen and the Service Federation’s chairman John Dybart. It was a meeting about making agreements with the Danish labor unions. Even though Ryanair said yes to a meeting with representatives from Danish trade- unions, which is rare, they did not come to any agreements during the meeting. Ryanair did not even read the agreements paper which was given to them during the meeting but was thrown away by O’Brien as soon as it was given to them. Nor did they take it back with them to Ryanair’s Headquarter in Dublin to read it through as that was the point with the meeting. (Hall and Kongskov, 2015)
IV: Survey data analysis:
Age 243
74 8
26
15-19
6 20-29
20
30-39 %
4
12
40-49
6
21
50-59
2
7
60-69
1
0 70<
Number of participants
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
Occupation 235
71
67 20
13
4
%
3
10
5
2
Number of participants
Income before tax 159
95 48 29
29 9
5
%
17
4
13
2
7
3
10
Number of participants
Page 22 of 121
Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
Level of education 137
111
42 5 MUNICIPAL PRIMARY AND LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL
35
34
18 5 UPPER SECONDARY
15
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
%
4
14
11
SHORT FURTHER MEDIUM LENGTH LONG FURTHER EDUCATION FURTHER EDUCATION EDUCATION
Number of participants
In which connection have you flown 1%
1%
15%
Work related
Private Both work related and private Have never flown
83%
Page 23 of 121
Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
One flight is from destination A to B minus stopovers. How many times have you flown within the last 3 years (work related)? 25
13
25
13 10
8 4
1
2
3
5 4
4
2 21 21 21
5
6
7
8
4
2
9 %
8
6 3 2 1 00 00 00 00 21 00 00 21 10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
4
20<
Number of participants
Page 24 of 121
Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
Which things do you priorities the most on your journey (work related)? 70
62
60
46
50
37
40 30
17
20
21 13
10
12 4
4
8
6 Salg
0
The respondents answers in ‘other’:
Procurement agreement
My travel agent makes the decision
I do not have any influence on this. Others book my flights
Page 25 of 121
Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
How long are your flights? (Work related)
37% Short routes Medium-length and long routes
57%
Both of the lengths
6%
Page 26 of 121
Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
What is your primary purpose of travel as a private person 3%
15% Experiences/Vacation
Visiting family/friends Other
82%
The respondents’ answers in ‘other’:
Both experiences/vacation and visiting family/friends (6 respondents)
Hospital visit
Auditions
Football
Education
Page 27 of 121
Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
One flight is from destination A to B minus stopovers. How many times have you flown within the last 3 years (Private)? 41
38 30
25
22
21
1
9
2
20
16
13 8
24
21
3
12 7
6
5
4
5
12
6
7
6
4
8
9 %
12 7
1 10
3
11
8
6
12 12
13
4
14
3
2
1
15
16
6
12 12 12 17
18
19
4
20<
Number of participants
How long are your flights? (Private)
38%
47%
Short routes Medium-length and long routes
Both of the lengths
15%
Page 28 of 121
Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
Which things do you priorities the most on your journey (Private short routes)? 90
84
80 70
59
60
50 40
33
30
24
20
13
10
16
3
6
10
Salg
1
1
0
The respondents’ answers in ‘other’:
Free bar in alcohol Wi-Fi Others have booked my flight
Page 29 of 121
Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
What do you want to pay for when buying you flight ticket? (Short routes) 1% I want the cheapest ticket. Nothing else matters
10%
30%
A cheap ticket that is consistent with the demands that I have for the airline company The price matters but it is more important that the service is good and my journey is comfortable. The price does not matter. I am willing to pay for the best service and comfort on my journey.
59%
Does the reputation of the airline company affect your choice? (Short routes) 7%
16% Yes always
22%
To some extent To a lesser extent
No not at all
55%
Page 30 of 121
Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
Which things do you priorities the most on your journey (Private medium and longer routes)? 90
82
80 70
59
60
47
50 40
30
19
20
13
10
14
14 5
10 2
3
Salg
0
The respondents’ answers to ‘other’:
Their communication Better call Saul is even worse That there is enough time during the transition so you are able to catch the next flight without stress. Their economy – in regards to bankruptcy Free bar in alcohol
Page 31 of 121
Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
What do you want to pay for when buying you flight ticket? (Medium and longer routes) 2% I want the cheapest ticket. Nothing else matters
20%
22%
A cheap ticket that is consistent with the demands that I have for the airline company The price matters but it is more important that the service is good and my journey is comfortable. The price does not matter. I am willing to pay for the best service and comfort on my journey.
56%
Does the reputation of the airline company affect your choice? (Medium and longer routes) 7%
13% Yes always
25%
To some extent To a lesser extent
No not at all
55%
Page 32 of 121
Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
Are you a conscious consumer 2% 12%
13%
No To a lesser extent
22%
To some extent To a high extent I do not know
51%
To what extent do you as a consumer believe/feel that you are responsible in order to ensure that a company is not making use of child labor or social dumping 0% 4%
16%
Not at all
To a lesser extent
44%
To some extent To a high extent
36%
I do not know
Page 33 of 121
Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
Which of the following things do you think are the most important for the aircraft company to take care of. They should avoid social dumping
5%
They should have proper working conditions for their employees
47%
38% They should be environmentally conscious They should make sure that there is proper conditions during the flight, including flight security
10%
When is it suitable for the labor union to intervene in a companys working condition 56
60
51 50 40
32
30 20 10
1 0
3
When is it suitable for the labor union to intervene in a companys working condition
Page 34 of 121
Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
The respondents’ answers to ‘other’:
Do not know (6 respondents) It depends on the situation When there is no settlement or there is a breach of the settlement. As soon as the settlement is breached. It does matter whether the employees are member of the labor union or not If they cannot handle the situation on their own (employees)(the government) When there is a breach of the settlement or if there is social dumping.
Have you ever flown with Ryanair 9% 29% Yes
No I do not know
62%
If you got the opportunity to travel with Ryanair (again) would you then do it?
24% Yes
45%
No Maybe
31%
Page 35 of 121
Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
Ryanair has been criticised for not having good working conditions. After haven been informed about this, woud you book a ticket from Ryanair? 11%
12%
Yes, without a doubt
Only if they change the conditions
22%
27%
It may be No
I do not know
28%
How big an influence do you believe that the consumers have on Ryanairs success on the global market? On a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 indicates that the consumers have no influence and 10 indicates that they have a great influence.
Influence
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1 to 10
Page 36 of 121
Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry What respondents know about Ryanair
Roskilde University Spring 2015
Number of respondents
What respondents know about Ryanair
Number of respondents
Bad working conditions
157
6
Cheap/Cheap tickets Do not know anything about Ryanair What I have heard for the media Ryanair is not living up to Danish standards
33 84
Ryanair contributes to social dumping Ryanair has cheap labor Ryanair has foreign workers
18 7
Know enough about Ryanair Ryanair is driving down the prices on flight tickets
1 2
Ryanair is a low-price company
30
2
Do not know much according to themselves
39
Bad service/comfort Flying with them was an okay experience
13 8
Ryanair is putting a pressure on other airline companies It is the employees own responsibility, that they work for Ryanair The CEO has a good time Ryanair is contributing negatively to the environment There has been many strikes against Ryanair Ryanair is a liberal company which is following the market forces and focusing on profit maximizing Ryanair has hidden charged
1
There is conflicts between Ryanair’s CEO and its employees Ryanair will not acknowledge the Danish law/labor market model The employees are afraid of speaking about the company in public/media Previously employees are criticizing Ryanair
3
Ryanair cheats their employees Ryanair has low prices which are affecting the service/comfort negatively
1 3
Ryanair is a immoral company
7
Ryanair has a lack of settlements
16
Ryanair has low prices on the expense of the employees’ working conditions Ryanair has security issues
11
Ryanair has a bad reputation
10
7
The labor Unions and Ryanair has a strained relationship/conflicting The respondents are well informed according to themselves Ryanair cheats in its taxes Ryanair is suing everybody
6
Ryanair is very complicated
1
2
2 1
1 1
2
1 1
2
2
4 2
1
Page 37 of 121
Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
Working conditions Number of respondents
91
43 4
1
4
2
2
8
Bad The No salary Are not Have to pay Have to pay The Have bad working employees when paid during their own their own employees working conditions have a absent maternity uniforms ID card have a bad hours in overall low/bad owing to leave contract. salary salary.
1
1
Have bad The social employees security have to pay when they quit the job, which is a part of their contract
In overall all respondents that talked about working conditions was 157, however 66 of the respondents d id mention some specific working conditions that they found problematic
V: Transcription of interview with former Ryanair employee Alessandra Cocca. Conducted 19th of April 2015 in Falconer Salen, Frederiksberg.
Interviewer I: Would you like to tell us a little bit about your history at Ryanair, starting with your motivation for applying to this company. Alessandra: I applied because it is my dream work to be a flight attendant. I applied because there was no info on the Ryanair conditions and the truth behind the bribes, you know. The bribe that they were publicized, advertised, to take people in the trap. I applied, I passed all the assessments, and sometimes it was not so easy
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
to understand this Irish, and the only thing I knew, that the course were pai d. So I had to pay the course, but I told that; “okay, I paid the course, but this course I could be used it for other airlines too?” and they said “no” It just garbage because it were just for Ryanair. So you pay in the total of 3000, more or less 3000 for – and you don’t have the really professional course certificate. So it was not worth for other airlines. Interviewer I: But you were told that is was useful for others {airlines} or you just thought that? Alessandra: No, it was just a question comment. You passed the very stressing e xams, they were stressing because you had a very short time for the big things to know, and afterwards they give you the contract. So you can understand that the contract say, just up towards when you pay a big part of the course and passed all these procedures test, of course. So afterwards, that you do. The only thing that people say is; okay we do like a period, like I would take it and then afterwards I would try with other companies, because I would have in my CV at least this experience that is anyway something. But the thing is after seven months, they had to clean places for others that made the course and paid, so they come in other people, because the business they did is that too. Interviewer I: Okay, so they continued to requite even though the y do not need to? Alessandra: Yes it is a meat marked Interviewer I: That is smart… Alessandra: Yeah it is smart, because they use this kind of business; they tie people in the trap, thinking to work in the civilization that is in a dream, of a lot of people, like the dream work. But they know a lot of conditions, so the dream work is not a dream work; it is like a trap actually, that it was it is started to became. And after seven month it is starting the very bad things like pressure, like treating, like you are going to be reported for everything, you know. Interviewer I: Was that just coming out of nothing or because you started to raise your voice? Alessandra: No it was just, or that they had decided that you had to go out. So they try to, or make you quit or to fire you, in the way they quit. And you know, if you are the base supervisor, they all [argh] and the base
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
supervisor say to the [argh] have been responsible to report you for everything, and they would find something, they would find something. And I know that people were pressed to report people, you know. Because of, this cleared after six months, like in after six months or seven months, they paid the course. They, the cabin responsible, are forced to report people to give material to being fired. They have to collect the most things to give a reason to be fired. Interviewer I: Just out of curiosity, it says that you have a one year [interrupted] Alessandra: 10 months Interviewer I: 10 months requiting or trial period. Is your contract going to change after that period? Alessandra: No the contract does not chance, but the attitude of people to {towards} me. Because they had to make clear places for other people coming, as if there was supposed to come 30 persons, they were desperate to get rid of other people. Interviewer I: But it could also just have been something in the company that changed, so they needed to be more people or something like that. That could have done that as well? Alessandra: Yeah, because after one year, the probation pe riod, you have more rights. Before the one year they can fire you for no reason, anywhere and anytime with immediately resolution of the working relation, and they give you just one of payment extra, but one week of payment in Ryan, I cannot understand it, it is not {much}. Interviewer I: If you can explain a little bit about the reason for you being fired, there was some kind of controversy? Alessandra: Yes, there was mainly a lack of communication with the person there were responsible for the cabin that hated me, hated me for sure. But hated me because I was saying to her, the real things, she was rude with the employees and the customers too. Once I was doing [hmm], she was in my shift as well, I met her always, it was like nightmare. We were doing the bar service and there was a guy there was waiting for pass to take a seat, because he was in the toilet. She turned back and said “do you think that waiting so sticky at me is going to make you faster seated at your place?” This person, and this are rumors because I cannot be said officially, colleagues told me that she was taking pills for depression; you know these up and down breaks. I
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
think that if you have a problem, a social problem, you cannot work with people. I am sorry because that she was like this; it was horrible like she was treading people. Interviewer I: So there was more than just one problem. Alessandra: yes yes, so there was communication lack, security lack, and security issue in the way that, without communication, not for just only a limited period but for all the flight long, this is a problem because in case we have problems, we could not react like a team. Interviewer I: Do you think that you would have quit the job eventually, if you have not been fired? Alessandra: I think so, I think so because the things were not so easy to challenge, absolutely. It is not how I use to tread customers, not how I use to tread colleagues. I was very gentle and in the way they were rude with me, I did not feel good. And you could not have even have it good outside life, because you did not have any money, so you could not even share you things too much outside, because you have no money to travel, you have no money to do something else, so your life would be like your job. Interviewer I: I think we came in on something like this, but did you know anything about Ryanair before your started working there? Alessandra: No, there was no info on them, because they try to avoid the spreading of accusing them, because otherwise they said they try to mean us people saying that would be law pursuit against, if they are being caught to talk about Ryanair. Interviewer I: How were the working conditions when you worked for them? Alessandra: You had not much time to clean and to check the airplane, very pressured into trying to make people sit the fastest you can, and no time, sometime, to go to the toilet, no time to eat. We had some, and a few time to eat and much time for us. So, it depended on the flight. If it was a very short flight, you could not even go to the toilet. Interviewer I: But how about then you were on standby, did you have flights there was [interrupted]
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
Alessandra: No, when I was on standby, normal standby, I had to stay home. Know that I could not move from home and I had to have my cellphone always free from calls. Because if they called me and they found it busy or not attended, they should give me a ‘no show’. That means that I refused to work. Interviewer II: So you had one chance? Alessandra: Yeah, one opportunity. [Pause] And they gave me a one ‘no show’ not because I was not there, but because I was totally blocked (in the nose). It was an early shift, and I did not, I have no chance to call the call control before the two hours, that is the last time you can call them to say that you are sick . Because it was an early shift, at 03:30 I woke up to go, and I wake up like this, totally blocked. I went to the crew room, the pilots told me and said “you are not fit to fly”, and advised me to call the call control the moment I was in the crew room. They said me “okay, I give you a ‘no show’”, “no that is not a ‘no show’ I am here in the crew room and I am not ‘fit to fly’, the pilots says that I am not ‘fit to fly’”, “I do not care, I do not care, the rules are like this and you will have a ‘no show’”. So the pilot talked with this guy, and they did fight for that, because it was not my fault. They were like forcing against my health condition to fly, and for sure I should lose my temper, for sure. Because in the condition I was, it was totally blocked. So the pilot made in the report, that this guy gave me a ‘no show’ against his advice to not fly, and they have everything written. So it is something that they try to force me against my health condition to fly, and so to have worse consequence. Interviewer II: So what happens when you get a ‘no show’? Alessandra: It was just in my CV, Ryanair CV Interviewer II: So like a remark? Alessandra: Yeah Interviewer I: If you had 5 or 10 ‘no shows’ would there be consequences for that? Alessandra: You are going to be fired absolutely, yep. Interviewer I: If you had one ‘no show’ would you be fired for that or should there be more reasons? Alessandra: If you are in the period that you have to be fired, you are going to be fired [laughing]. They take, you know, they try to collect the more chance to give the reason to be fired, you know.
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
Interviewer I: So there is no mercy regarding to that? Alessandra: It is not just mercy; try to find the reason to get rid of you. It is different, it is a very bad, bad, bad thing – it is evil [voice shaking]. Interviewer I: It does not sound like the most pleasant place to be. Can you explain a little about the organizational structure within Ryanair? Alessandra: What I can say about the base, is that there is a base supervisor that is the king in the moment, that he decide on the life and dead of the people there. If you are on a black list, you are done. Actually this is the king, because the reports come to him, if he do not want to send them (forward), he will not send them. If he wants to get rid of you, it is the first thing he is doing immediately then these come, you know. Interviewer I: So you have the base supervisor, and then you have? Alessandra: Deputy, that is the servant of the base supervisor, yeah. And then you have like some pushers, that are the cabin responsible , there are like maybe 15, depends on the shift, and then all these other numbers, like me. Interviewer II: Do you know how they end in the role as base supervisors? Have they started as a crew like you and then just worked [interrupted] Alessandra: Yeah, he is a crew like me; I mean he is a cabin responsible and he his being the base supervisor. So he flies but he has even the base supervisor duty. Interviewer I: So you earn you way up to become base supervisor. Alessandra: You try, at least to survive at first, and then to take contract as fast and then to have a cabin responsible contract. These are the steps. Interviewer I: How is the internal communication within Ryanair, both between leaders and employees, but also between the employees?
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
Alessandra: Normally we have like an intranet, where we have all procedures changing and who is handling all the shifts. And yes, the base supervisor gives some information, but not much at least, just practical, not everything else coming from the company. Interviewer I: Would that be on a meeting or through the intranet? Alessandra: We did some meetings but just about service. Interviewer I: And how between the employees? Alessandra: One against the other. Because the psychological treatment from the company is starting from that, you make people united or make people one against the other, you are not going to have problems, because they will not be against you, they are ready, psychologically, to manage this kind of condition. So, the best way for a company like Ryanair, like very low company, I mean it is not just low price but very low vibration company, to control the minds. Interviewer I: That also leads to, if there was any code of conduct when you were working as flight crew? Alessandra: Code of conduct, you mean procedures? Interviewer I: Yeah Alessandra: We have a lot of procedures you had to know by heart. Interviewer I: Also, did you need to have any specific behavior in front of customers? Alessandra: No, customers have to follow the rules, stop. They are not human beings; they are just customers [laughing] or better passengers. People you are going to have for one hour, and then you have to try to make them leave as soon as possible, just that. Interviewer I: So there was nowhere in the code of conduct that you needed to be service minded or anything like that? Alessandra: Actually if I tried to have a nice relationship to passengers, I was being reported to be too much, “she is nice with passengers, sometimes too much”, this is what they say.
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
Interviewer I: So they actually do not like [interrupted] Alessandra: You do not have to loose time with passengers, just numbers, numbers, numbers. This is in a kind of way very British behaving that is why I do not like them, I am so sorry to say. Because they are the typically British sometimes way of acting in society, not people but in the job places. Interviewer I: It is also an American thing as well, if you say [interrupted] Alessandra: maybe, but Americans little bit less than British, I mean. British sometimes says “ohh, we are polite”, no you are just masquerade, you are rude masqueraded with politeness – that is different. If you say if you kill me and you say “I am sorry I killed you” *said with exaggerated voice], I do not care if you sad sorry I killed you, you killed me [laughing]. Interviewer I: Also backstage, was there any code of conduct there, any procedures/ways that you needed to behave in front of each other? Alessandra: No, there was not ethics with passengers; you have just to be quick and effective. It does not matter how rude, that is why there were a lot of rude people. Interviewer I: You almost answered the next questions, has there any organizational culture or social commitments for the employees within Ryanair? Alessandra: Yeah, the organization culture is Michael O’Leary spy, mirrored. In fact that is why he removed his face as front man, because he said even maybe I modeled the company as I think. So he is a shit person so he put the company like a shitty. Interviewer I: So it is differently coming from the leaders? Alessandra: Absolutely. It was you know, it was a clone of him Interviewer I: Do you think that people are like that from the beginning or do you think that people are forme d into that kind of role? Alessandra: They [hmm] I think was. Because if you are not [hmm] set like this, maybe you take more time to be like this, but for sure, the company change you in the long term, mentally and behavior. I saw people there
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
were very gentle normally became like witches. [Pause] This is the problem, but they are very mental, they made for sure, a lot of studies on how to control human being. So with a fear of politics, they put one -againstthe-other-politic, and to [argh] if you give people that are in a bad condition job, and they come from the southern Italy, southern Europe that were in a crisis, okay. They feel like they have no other chances, so they try to do the best to not complain, because at least they have a job. So they joke on that and this is very awful, it is very evil, because you take advances of the conditions of human people. And this is totally not just ethics, this is just evil. It is something - I do not know how to describe it. Interviewer I: Do you think that all employees in the company are treaded the same way? Alessandra: It depends, if you are committed with the base supervisors, and you have some, you know, have some people that have power, maybe you do not feel it, because you have a lot of positive feedback. Y ou know, they help you, they treat you, because for sure, but if you are not in the good book of the power men, you are {not}. Interviewer I: You already answered this, but do you believe that Ryanair without any hesitations would fire people that raises their voice, or challenges them? Alessandra: Now that they tried to do all this, you mean? Interviewer I: Yeah, I just mean like if you were coming with suggestions to do procedures better, or something like that. It could be any kind of thing. Alessandra: With changement you mean. We had time changement for customers, e.g. silence flight and less in the handbag and some other facilities. So something is changed, but just for politics reasons, not just because they understood that they were a shit company. The only thing that we can know that they can change, something, especially for employees, is that the unions and politics make some new rules, that they will be forced to observe, because otherwise they will continue keeping going like this, because they do not care. They are not moved by human love, they are moved for money love, so they do not care about that. In that case it is the union and politics job to make them forced to follow rules. Especially Scandinavian they are embracing, so nice. Interviewer I: But what about internally, if colleagues started to gather making some kind of organization (groups) or wanted to do that? Page 46 of 121
Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
Alessandra: No way, that is why they are one against the other, so they do not unite themselves - job organization, love organization, union, nothing. Actually they will fight the behavior to get involved in some unions, you know. Interviewer II: Did you feel that you had anyone in the company that you could complain to, in regards to the conditions? Alessandra: Everyone complains privately, but they have no courage, the brutalness to complain e.g. in the medias. But I can understand, because Ryanair, they manage to sue you, in case you say something in the media. So if you do not have unions to support you, it is a problem. Interviewer II: But what about within Ryanair, in the organization, did you have like a [interrupted] Alessandra: There is no organization. No one can be in the union. Interviewer II: Okay, so you could not complain to anyone? Alessandra: You can do it, but it is like a paper. You do not even know if it is going to reach the right person, because it is the base supervisor that does that. Interviewer I: Do you think that people still wants to work for the company, when considering its bad reputation? Alessandra: If they know something, no it is coming out a little bit, maybe not. But when I tried to get in, there was no info on it that is why I even come out in the media and stuff, to make people know what it means to be there. Interviewer I: To kind of converse the conversation, do you have anything positive to say about the company? Alessandra: What I can see, that the idea to make low prices for people, that before could not afford to travel, is a good idea. It seems even socialistic, but if you do that, after to make happy people and make other people not happy, that means that it is just things that you do for your reasons. Because until you stay in the line of ethics it is okay, but when you go down from ethics to get more profit and stuff, in that case no. It is the only thing that should be a little bit positive, but the reason why they do it is not so positive. You know in the tales
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Roskilde University Spring 2015
(fairytales), even the evil has a little bit positive thing. Because for what they tried to do they always had to give like a Trojan horse - a reason, you know. So they could say “We make people that cannot afford to move, we move them for a very little price”, so people now they travel more. But actually that is not the reason, the reason is another, they just not come across. Interviewer I: It kind of makes you sad, when you tell all of these things Alessandra: But they are smart, because they made psychological study of how to control people, a big mass of people. You take people that have no money you tread them bad, because if you tread them bad, you make them feel worthless, so they cannot even think that they need more. So it is a psychological system, very very smart. It is how to control people- that is it. Interviewer I: But when you are having your introduction period, are they behaving differently in that time period? Alessandra: They had to make the company appear very good. Actually in the assessment you mean, yep, it seemed all good, all glam, all wow. But even they come a lot of people and we make a [..]. So it seemed even okay, I did it, you know. So you had even these things, I did it from a lot of people that was not being taken. So you had all these stuff, it seemed like a dream come true and then a little [hmm] if you take a frog, and you put it in the water and you put the frog in very hot water, the frog takes the jump and get out. If you take the frog and little by little you warm of the water, it is being cooked with it [not] even realizes that. So this is the psychological way to work for them, they cook you without you realizing it. Interviewer I: So do you think that Ryanair are recruiting a certain type of employees then, since you are saying that in the assessment people are being taken away. Is that because they do not fit or they do not think that they can fit into the profile of [interrupted]. Alessandra: yeah maybe. Interviewer I: What can people do to prevent a company like Ryanair to expand? Alessandra: Make rules and control them in ethics of the employment Also as a private person
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
Maybe they can avoid to travel with them, this is a way for example. Because they just understand one day lose money that is the risk. Interviewer I: What do you think that Ryanair’s future is going to look like? Alessandra: I hope, like, a company that follows the rules. Maybe with less so low prices, a little bit more, but they have to make people happy to work with them. Otherwise society is going to be hell, if the problem is that, the social dumping is that, the ruining of society. So when people are going to be no more happy, a lot of psychologists will maybe be happy. But not a good way to live a quality life, and it is actually coming everywhere, every happy aisle it seems that they try to infiltrate it. Infiltrated evil is something to avoid and to fight against!
VI: Price differences To map out price differences between Ryanair and its competitors, a calculated flight is illustrated below. The flight is for a single person travelling from Copenhagen Airport to Victoria Station in London on a round-trip (from Tuesday June 16th to Saturday June 20th 2015). The flight is to include:
20 kg of luggage Seat reservations Cancellation insurance Transit from/to the airport British Airways
EasyJet
EasyJet
Norwegian
SAS
Ryanair
1420kr
523.09kr
413.09kr
625kr
1171kr
168kr
(750kr + 674kr)
(193kr + 330.09kr)
(173kr + 240.09kr)
(199kr + 426kr)
(399kr + 772kr)
(69kr + 99kr)
Arri vi ng airport
Hea throw
Ga twi ck
Luton
Ga twi ck
Hea throw
Luton
Tra ns port from/to a irport to Vi ctori a St.
124,83kr*
71,78kr**
114,43kr*
71,78kr**
124,83kr*
114,43kr
Ba ggage
Incl uded i n pl a ne ti cket 312kr
270kr
290kr
180kr
574kr
95kr
85kr
180kr
Incl uded i n pl a ne ti cket 198kr
(2 x 156kr)
(2 x 47.50kr)
(2 x 42.50kr)
(2 x 90kr)
(2 x 99kr)
(2 x 49kr)
90kr
145kr
Pl a ne ticket
Sea t reservation Ca ncellation i ns urence Tra vel insurance
(2 x 90kr)
(150kr- pa yed if needed) 148.50kr
148.50kr
(2 x 287kr)
98kr
160kr
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015 (ticket refund only in case of Ryanair’s failure)
i ncl . Ticket refund Food a nd drinks onboard
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Credi t ca rd fee Tota l price
No
(but only food on flights longer than 90 minutes )
22.94 kr 1856,83kr
1108.37kr
1051.02kr
1146.78kr
1638,83kr
1137.37kr
(or 1106.78kr with LowFare+) *National Express **easyBus
The below table shows the same flights from Copenhagen airport to Victoria Station, Lon don, however this is a very low-budgetary flight only included 20kg of luggage.
Pl a ne Ticket Arri vi ng airport Tra ns port from/to a irport to Vi ctori a St. Ba ggage
British Airways
EasyJet
EasyJet
Norwegian
SAS
Ryanair
1420kr
523.09 kr
413.09kr
625kr
1171kr
168kr
(750kr + 674kr)
(193kr + 330.09kr)
(173kr + 240.09)
(199kr + 426kr)
(399kr + 772kr)
(69kr + 99kr)
Hea throw 124,83kr*
Ga twi ck 71,78kr**
Luton 114,43kr*
Ga twi ck 71,78kr**
Hea throw 124,83kr*
Luton 114,43kr
Incl uded i n pl a ne ti cket
270kr
290kr
180kr
Incl uded i n pl a ne ti cket
574kr
(2 x 90kr)
Credi t ca rd fee Tota l price
(2 x 287kr)
6.30kr 1544.83kr
864.87kr
817.52kr
876.78kr
1295.83kr
862.73kr
*National Express **easyBus
When looking at the two tables, the cheapest tickets for both travels are EasyJet’s flight to Luton, at 1051.02kr and 817.52kr, respectively. This is in the all-included flight followed by Norwegian (if buying LowFare+), EasyJet’s flight to Gatwick and then Ryanair with a price of 1137.37kr. In the higher end of the price range lays SAS and British Airways flight, with 501.46kr and 719.46kr difference to Ryanair, respectively. In the low -budget flight, EasyJet is followed by Ryanair at 862.73kr, and within an addition of 15kr, EasyJet’s flight to Gatwick and Norwegian follows. Again, SAS and British Airways, has the highest prices at 1295.83kr and 1544.83kr, being 433.1kr and 682.1kr above the price of Ryanair, respectively. It should however be noted that, would one be interested in flying without luggage, then Ryanair is the cheapest with a ticket price of 168kr plus the 114.43kr for transport, with total of 282.43kr. Thus being 245.09kr cheaper than the second cheapest, EasyJet to Luton.
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
It is however important to remember, that the prices varies from flight to flight and to different destinations. Thus, the prices given in this example may differ, and therefore also which company that is cheapest in the specific case. The project will yet argue that, the example of flights will not vary a lot; having Ryanair a nd EasyJet as the cheapest airline companies, followed by Norwegian, SAS and then British Airways.
VII: Ryanair’s job advertisement Retrieved from: Rya na ir Labs. Published by Ryanair Ltd.. Ava ilable at: http://corporate.ryanair.com/careers / - La s t a cces s ed d. 27.05.2015 (Internet) Ca bi n Crew Recruitment. Published Rya nair Ltd.. Ava ilable at: http://corporate.rya nai r.com/ca reers /ca bi n -crew-recrui tment/ - La s t a cces s ed d. 27.05.2015 (Internet)
RYANAIR WANTS YOU!! Fantastic career opportunities in Aviation with Ryanair Are you unfulfilled in your current job? Do you want a career that excites and challenges you? Who we are: Ryanair is Europe’s favourite airline, operating more than 1,600 daily flights fr om 73 bases, connecting 190 destinations in 30 countries and operating a fleet of more than 300 new Boeing 737 -800 aircraft. Ryanair has recently announced firm orders for a further 280 new Boeing 737 aircraft, as well as options for 100 more Boeing 737 MAX 200s, which will enable Ryanair to lower fares and grow traffic from 100m this year to 160m p.a. in 2024. Ryanair currently has a team of more than 9,500 highly skilled aviation professionals, and has an industry leading 30-year safety record.
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
Who we want From the cockpit and cabin to commercial, we want a team that is quick-thinking, fast-acting and hard-working. We want talented people who love a challenge, like to get stuck in and who hate waffle. You should work well with other people but able to work on your own initiative too. A bit of enthusiasm goes a long way! What you get: We firmly believe in rewarding our people for their effort and we do our best to incentivise work wherever we can so that the better you perform, the more you get paid. When you work here you'll get a competitive salary, excellent benefits, and fantastic opportunities to move up within Ryanair if you work hard and impress. Lots of companies promise the earth, but here we actually deliver: rewarding work and great opportunities for real advancement. We don't operate seniority lists or any other restrictions on your development? We give you the opportunity to prove yourself, and we like to make sure that the cream rises to the top... With 175 Aircraft being delivered between 2014 a nd 2018 we have loads of promotional opportunities for our people. Of course, we ARE an airline and we offer our people travel perks; if you are employed on a Ryanair contract, you can take advantage of unlimited discounted standby flights on all of our routes. How to Apply Before you start, there are a few things we need from you. You must have a good level of English, both written and spoken, an EU passport and a reasonable level of computer literacy. If you have all of this, as well as the energy and drive to throw yourself into your job with enthusiasm, then check out our current vacancies and apply now by sending your CV to the email address provided at the bottom of the job description. Please note that Ryanair is an equal opportunities employer. Applications for employment can only be made through the channels detailed on this website. Applicants who canvass (by phone, direct contact or through existing employees) will be disqualified. Please note that due to the high volume of applications that we receive, unfortunately we will only be in contact with you if you have been shortlisted for an interview. Thank you for your interest in working with Ryanair. We hope to see you 'onboard' soon! Ryanair's Recruitment Team
- See more at: http://corporate.ryanair.com/careers/#sthash.JVs94Dlt.dpuf
CABIN CREW RECRUITMENT CABIN CREW CAREERS
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
Are you bored of nine-to-five? Want something different? Want a career that will get you places? How about a job that gives you wings? Our Cabin Crew service providers are currently recruiting for exciting Cabin Crew positions operating on Ryanair aircraft. Ryanair is Europe’s favourite low fares airline, operating more than 1,600 daily flights (over 500,000 per year) from 69 bases, across 1,600 low fare routes, connecting 186 de stinations in 30 countries and operating a fleet of 300 new Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Ryanair has recently announced firm orders for a further 180 new Boeing aircraft, which will be delivered between 2014 and 2018. Ryanair currently has a team of more than 9,500 highly skilled professionals, will carry 86 million customers this year and has an outstanding 30-year safety record. For information regarding open days throughout the UK and Europe please consult the following websites: Crewlink
www.crewlink.ie
Requirements You need to be:
Experienced in dealing with the public & comfortable in a selling role
Physically fit with a good attendance record in your current position
Hard working, flexible & willing to operate on a shift roster
Over 18 years of age
Between 5'2 (1.57m) and 6'2 (1.88m) in height with weight in proportion
Of normal vision (contact lenses acceptable)
Able to swim well
You must be in possession of a valid European Union passport and have the right to work in both the UK and Ireland
Fluent in English (both written and spoken)
Prepared to live within one hour's travelling time of any Ryanair base
Ready to meet the challenge of dealing with people and demanding situations Friendly and outgoing with a lively personality
What's on offer for full-time crews?
A fixed term flexible contract for 3 years with a Cabin Crew agency who are contracted to supply cabin crew to Ryanair
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
Competitive salary dependant on where you are based throughout our European network.
New Joiners' Allowance £1,000 /€1,200 over first 6 months
Great
promotional opportunities with the potential to join Ryanair and earn in excess of
£25,000/€30,000 gross per annum after just one year in most bases.
New friends, fun, amazing opportunities and real job satisfaction
Generous travel benefits from day one, giving you the opportunity to fly abroad on your days off. Rome for lunch! Or Skiing in Austria!
What happens at the recruitment days? When you arrive at we will ask you to fill out an application form. There will then be a presentation telling you all about life as cabin crew and what you can expect from the job. There will usually be Cabin Crew members present to answer any questions you may have and tell you what it is like flying on Ryanair aircraft. After the presentations interviews will be conducted (group and/or individual). You can expect to hear the outcome of your individual interview within a few days. When will the training start? Our cabin crew agencies are continually holding training courses throughout Europe. What does the training involve? The Boeing 737-800 Cabin Crew Initial Training Course is an intensive six week training course covering all aspects of the job from passenger safety to customer services. With successful completion of this course you will receive your wings and be qualified to work on board Ryanair aircraft. As the training is conducted by a third party provider there is a fee - the cost can be deducted from your salary during your first 12 months. Full details will be provided at the recruitment days. Due to Ryanair's phenomenal growth to date and with the arrival of 74 new aircraft over the next 2 years, there are ample positions available to recruit candidates from students who successfully complete the training course. Where will I be working? We are principally recruiting for bases in the following countries
UK (London - Stansted, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds Bradford, Glasgow - Prestwick, Edinburgh, East Midlands, London - Luton, Bristol and Bournemouth)
Ireland (Dublin, Cork and Shannon)
Spain (Madrid, Barcelona El Prat, Palma, Barcelona - Girona, Seville, Malaga, Valencia, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, Tenerife and Alicante)
Portugal (Faro and Porto)
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
Germany (Frankfurt - Hahn, Bremen, Baden Baden and Dusseldorf Weeze)
Netherlands (Maastricht)
Belgium (Brussels - Charleroi)
Italy (Milan - Bergamo, Pisa - Florence and Rome - Ciampino, Trapani, Brindisi, Bari, Pescara, Bologna, Caglari, Alghero)
Malta
Cyprus (Paphos)
Sweden (Stockholm - Skavsta)
Norway (Oslo - Rygge)
Lithuania (Kaunas)
Poland (Wroclaw)
Hungary (Budapest) Denmark (Billund)
How much will I make? After successfully completing the training course crew receives a payment for every flight taken as well as sales bonus for onboard sales. You can typically expect to earn approximately £900-£1,100/€1,100-€1,400 per month after tax in your first year in most bases. As a full time crew you will also receive a New Joiners Allowance which is £1,000/€1,200 over your first 6 months. After 12 Months: an EXTRA £250/€325 annual allowance for uniforms, ID's and Medicals After 6 months you may be eligible for a position directly employed with Ryanair and after 12 months you may be eligible for promotion to a Customer Service Supervisor. A Customer Service Supervisor promotion would involve:
Increased responsibility as you manage a team of three other Cabin Crew on each flight
Increased
£25,000/€30,000 gross per annum Increased Staff Travel benefits (including discounted travel on other airlines)
pay
- Ryanair Supervisors based
in
the UK
& Ireland earn approximately earn
What is the job like? The best people to answer this are the crew themselves and they will usually be available at each recruitment day to chat with you. It is hard work but very rewarding, you will get to meet different people every day and no two days will ever be the same. - See more at: http://corporate.ryanair.com/careers/cabin-crew-recruitment/#sthash.yk51sLLJ.dpuf
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Bachelor Thesis The Class between the Working Conditions within the National Airline Industry
Roskilde University Spring 2015
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