Ryanair confirmed on Tuesday that the six workers had been sacked.
In a statement sent to The Portugal News, the airline said: “All 6 cabin crew members in Porto were dismissed on Mon 5 Nov. for breach of contract on grounds of gross misconduct, after staging a fake photograph to support a false claim (widely reported in international media outlets) that they were ‘forced to sleep on the floor’ of the Malaga crew room, which was behaviour which damaged their employer’s reputation and caused an irreparable breach of trust with these 6 persons.”
Portugal’s SNPVAC trade union has defended the staff, saying it was a form of protest.
“The image illustrated the working conditions for the crew in Malaga”, said Fernando Gandra, adding: “What we always claimed, is that Ryanair only gave the floor for people to have a rest.”
Unions have also said; “There were 24 crew members in a room with eight chairs [and] some … decided to demonstrate their indignation by lying on the ground because the other chairs were occupied and someone, who was not one of those crew members, released the photograph on social networks and they end up being fired.”
Ryanair has faced a series of strikes in several European countries in recent months as a newly unionised workforce presses for full rights under local employment law.