A committee of Ryanair workers yesterday accused politicians and the media of ignoring the majority of airline staff who wanted to work normally. The committee of five claims to represent the overwhelming majority of staff in Ryanair. It says that two weeks ago, at the height of the Ryanair dispute, 650 of the 800 staff working in Dublin signed a petition saying they did not require a third party to negotiate on their behalf.
While 39 people - the baggage-handlers - had generated much publicity, politicians had not reacted to a petition signed by nearly three-quarters of the staff, a committee spokeswoman said.
"Management had no hand in the petition, and there was absolutely no coercion as claimed by the unions. Any politician could look at the signatures if they wanted to." She said the difference between the numbers signing the petition and the total staff was accounted for by people being on leave or doing night work.
The spokeswoman, who did not wish to be named, said the Ryanair staff committee had been formed because there was so much bad feeling towards the employees. They were "angry to see the lies being put out" on television and in the media generally. The petition mentions three politicians - the Labour MEP, Ms Bernie Malone, and the Democratic Left TDs, Mr Eamon Gilmore and Mr Pat Rabbitte - and accuses them of making insulting comments on the quality of Ryanair employees.
In a statement yesterday the workers' committee said: "To date, none of the mentioned politicians has apologised or even acknowledged our petition which was faxed to their offices."
Mr Gilmore said yesterday he had not responded to the petition because it was sent anonymously. There was no contact name and no list of signatures. All it said was that it was from the Ryanair working staff. It was very hard to acknowledge something when there was nobody to respond to.
The committee spokeswoman said that they had stated the signatures were available on request. "The signatures are real, they are here, and if any politician wants to see them then there is no problem over that," she said. There was no point in putting one name on it when it was sent out because there was a lot more people represented.
The statement issued yesterday said that since the dispute began, the media and politicians had virtually ignored the majority of staff. When the fact that 97 per cent of staff at Ryanair were working normally was not sufficient to convey to politicians, the public and the media that this was their choice, it was felt that another approach was needed. The petition began: "We the undersigned (signatures will be provided upon request) working Ryanair employees wish to express our disgust and outrage at the untruths and slanderous comments that are currently being circulated by politicians and the media. We, the majority of Ryanair staff, are not simply `glued to VDU screens and check-in desks'. We are perfectly capable of thinking for ourselves and expressing our wishes."