Brussels, 10/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - In bringing amendments to the regulations on coordinating social security systems on Thursday 10 May, the Council of the EU has ended the practice of social dumping in the aviation sector. While, of course, no specific airline is targeted by the decision, the case of Ryanair is illustrative, with its practice of making its crew members, wherever they might be in Europe, subject to the Irish social system.
Ministers thus followed the lead of the European Parliament (EP) which, in April (see EUROPE 10597), adopted a legislative resolution on the basis of the report by Czech MEP Milan Cabrnoch (ECR). This resolution introduced the notion of “home base” in order to determine the legislation applicable to flight crews. The Council took on this notion and defined it as “a place from which the air crew member habitually carries out his or her work in performance of his or her contract”.
This will affect the Ryanair practice, criticised in mid-2011 by the Belgian trade union CNE (Centrale nationale des employés) which argued that the working conditions imposed on employees of the Irish airline in Charleroi were incompatible with Belgian labour law. Ryanair has always defended its practice, arguing that its flight crews work on board aircraft registered in the country where the company is headquartered and, thus, are subject to Irish law.
The other amendments to regulations No 883/2004 and No 987/2009, which coordinate social security systems, adopted by the Council, relate to the situation of cross-border freelance workers, who may now receive their unemployment benefit in their country of residence, even if this is not their previous place of employment. The benefit will be paid by the state in which the worker was previously employed. (JK/transl.rt)