“Crew members in the four countries where the strike has been called have been receiving emails where Ryanair wants to know if they will be joining the industrial action or not SNPVAC chairwoman Luciana Passo told Lusa.

The company is using the internet questionnaire to foresee operations for 25 and 26 July and see who is going to go on strike, which is illegal, and wants to coerce staff by seeing who responds or not, she added.

Ryanair cabin crews are expected to go out on a 24-hour strike in Portugal, Italy, Spain and Belgium on 25 July and in Portugal, Spain and Belgium on the 26th.

Luciana Passo acknowledged that the strike would have serious effects on passengers who were completely blameless but said it was the only solution given Ryanair’s refusal to accept the staff’s demands.

She said the unions were demanding three things: that Ryanair applies the law of the countries where they operate, pursuant to EU law, that it recognises union representatives and that it applies the same working conditions to everyone who the company employees even if they are directly hired by third-party operators such as Crewlink or Workforce.