Ryanair cabin and ground crew announce European strikes this month

Ryanair cabin and ground crew from Spain, Italy, Portugal and Belgium have announced coordinated strikes for July in an escalation of the airline’s labour dispute.

Workers set the dates of the strike for 25 and 26 July, presenting a list of demands to the company in a "crew charter" this week that were not addressed. Ryanair responded the demands were pointless and their staff already works in perfectly good conditions.

The demands included improved of economic conditions and a "fair living wage", better sick pay and employment contracts in their own language - based on local and not Irish law. They also demand rostering and workplace culture improvements.

If the workers decide to go through with the strike, it could cause severe disruptions for travellers to popular holiday destinations, especially coming on top of a strike by 100 Irish pilots planned for 12 July.

According to Reuters, only Irish routes will face cancellations with Ryanair stating: "Since Ireland accounts for less than 7% of Ryanair flights, we expect that 93% of our customers will be unaffected by any strike."

In December, chief executive Michael O’Leary decided to recognise trade unions after decades of refusals.

Yet according the International Transport Workers' Federation, the company had not discussed working conditions with the unions even after approving them.