This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Ryanair cabin crew from four European countries will go on strike this month, in an escalation of the airline’s labour dispute that is likely to cause severe disruption to flights to popular holiday destinations.

Cabin and ground crew from Spain, Italy, Portugal and Belgium have agreed to stage a walkout on 25 and 26 July, saying Ryanair has failed to address a list of demands presented to the company in a “crew charter” this week.

Ryanair has described the demands as “pointless”, insisting its crew already enjoy good conditions.

Details of the walkout emerged days after about 100 Ryanair pilots based in Ireland announced plans to strike on 12 July.

Ryanair’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, reversed a decades-old policy of refusing to recognise trade unions in December, as the airline wrestled with a pilot shortage that caused two waves of flight cancellations.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Michael O’Leary, the Ryanair chief executive. Photograph: Reuters

But the International Transport Workers’ Federation, an umbrella body assisting Ryanair crew unions in multiple countries, said the company had not followed up union recognition with genuine talks about working conditions.

ITF’s campaigns director, Liz Blackshaw, said: “The decision that Ryanair took in December to recognise unions was welcomed, but that came in among years and years of complaints across the workforce about conditions, pay, all of the issues listed in the charter.

“No progress has been made, despite Ryanair claiming to be in talks with unions across Europe. Ryanair needs to sit down with the unions they’ve been talking with and actually address the conditions of work being complained about and address the charter.”

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The crew charter drawn up by unions includes demands ranging from improvements to economic conditions to safety and rostering and workplace culture.

They also urged Ryanair to end more precarious agency employment, give staff the right to sick pay and end strictly enforced sales targets for products such as scratchcards.

Ryanair had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.