The low-cost airline company Ryanair will be closing its operations at Girona, Tenerife, Lanzarote and Gran Canaria airports next January. This was announced by the company through an internal communication to the workers.
According to the unions, the decision could leave 164 workers without work, between cabin crews and pilots, in the Viloví d’Onyar base in Girona.
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In her writing, Lisa McCormack, the HR manager of the Irish company, says Ryanair will ‘do everything possible to minimize the loss of jobs.’
In this regard, the company explains that in the next fifteen days a negotiating commission with the unions will be opened to face the layoffs process. With Girona, the bases of Tenerife, Lanzarote and Gran Canaria will also be closed.
The company’s primary justification for the closure is the delay in delivering a new model of aircraft. Added to this is the 41% drop in profits during the first quarter and the increase in structural costs, such as the price of fuel and wages for the staff.
The unions, on the other hand, regret that the announcement has come in the middle of negotiating with the company what minimum services will be put in place for the ten days of strike for September. In total, the unions warn that 512 workers’ jobs could be at risk throughout Spain.
In addition to the 164 positions that could be affected in Girona, there would be 156 more in Tenerife, 110 in Las Palmas and 82 in Lanzarote. ‘The closures and layoffs are not justified and Ryanair will have to give explanations to the Spanish labour authorities,’ the USO union states.
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