Reports in the Irish press say this is the result of a photo published on social media, which shows Ryanair crew members, based in Portugal, sleeping on a floor at Malaga Airport.
The low-cost airline has since dismissed the photo as being fake.
The photo, which grabbed headlines and went viral on Facebook and Twitter, was published after four Ryanair planes were forced to land in Spain instead of Portugal, where they are based.
The planes were diverted due to safety concerns resulting from the unstable weather conditions caused by Storm Leslie in Portugal.
Immediately after the photo was published, Chief Operations Officer Peter Bellew apologised to the staff. He further added in a tweet that at the time, there were no hotel rooms available on the night in Malaga.
But following the apology, Ryanair managed to obtain CCTV footage and posted it on Twitter, indicating the photo had been staged.
As a result, the group of Ryanair staff, mostly from Portugal, have been summoned to attend a meeting at the airline’s head office in Dublin.
In a letter seen by Ireland’s RTÉ News, the staff have been told they are “required to attend an investigative meeting under the disciplinary procedure.”
The meeting, said the letter, is to “discuss the circumstances surrounding the distribution on social media of a photograph”, which the airline says “faked events.”
Portugal’s SNPVAC trade union defended the staff, saying it was a form of protest.
“The image illustrated the working conditions for the crew in Malaga last Saturday night”, said Fernando Gandra, adding: “What we always claimed, is that Ryanair only gave the floor for people to have a rest.”
A Ryanair statement meanwhile said “the publication of this video reveals the facts and exposes the SNPVAC union’s fake news/false claims” and the airline has called on Gandra to apologise for his claim.
In related news, Ryanair has announced that it has signed an agreement with the Portuguese pilot union SPAC, which will provide for seniority and base transfer agreements, to cover all of Ryanair’s directly employed pilots in Portugal. Negotiations with SPAC under Portuguese Law with local contracts will now commence before the end of October.
Ryanair’s Chief People Officer, Eddie Wilson said: “These signed agreements with our pilot unions in Portugal, the UK, Italy and shortly in Spain, demonstrate the considerable progress we’re making in concluding union agreements with our people in our major EU markets.”
He added that he expected that these agreements will encourage the cabin crew unions in Portugal to remove competitor airline employees, who the airline claims have been blocking progress, and to quickly conclude cabin crew agreements.