Ryanair tells flight attendants to repay salary rises

Ryanair has ordered some flight attendants in Spain to repay salary increases of up to €3,000 (£2,525) following a legal dispute with their union.

The Irish airline has written to Spanish trade union the USO to say it will be informing its members how much they owe after it won a court case which nullified a pay deal agreed with a different group.

The salary increase was agreed with the separate CCOO union but it applied to all flight attendants.

Ryanair said: "USO are complaining about pay cuts that result from their court case. Ryanair is complying with the court case that USO took to cut pay while it is under appeal."

The union told the BBC: "We are working on finding the most adequate legal solution for the matter."

According to the USO, the rises that Ryanair is attempting to claw back from union members range between €1,500 and €3,000 and were paid between October last year and March, when a Spanish court gave its ruling on the original salary deal.

A spokesperson for Ryanair declined to answer questions on how many flight attendants it is pursuing or what will happen if they do not pay back the money.

But the USO said the airline has told the affected flight attendants "that the money will be simply deducted from the payslip until the debt is paid".

It added that "some of the non-aligned workers are not forced to pay the amount back" but "all USO delegates have been requested to return the money".

In a letter, Ryanair describes the union's decision to maintain the terms agreed under the original deal with the CCOO, which the USO fought to nullify, as "farcical".

However, the union maintains that those negotiating the deal were not authorised to do so and "legally couldn't sign that kind of agreement which is why USO left the negotiations, after advising all other parties that the negotiations were irregular".

The union added that members and non-members have had their salary reverted to what it was before the agreement was implemented.