Investors call Wizz Air out over staff rights while shares go down
Wizz Air was called out by a group of 14 investors over concerns that the low cost carrier does not allow its staff to unionise.
The company’s shares went down 2.45 per cent to 4,054p, closing at 3,966p.
The group – which includes British fund Ardevora Asset Management – said that while the right to unionise is guaranteed by international law, research into Wizz Air’s practices revealed that the company was effectively blocking employees from creating unions, Reuters reported.
Examples seen by Reuters date back as early as early as 2014, when a Romanian court ruled out against Wizz because it let 19 members of staff go following their attempt to unionise.
In 2020, Wizz Air’s chief executive Jozsef Varadi made the headlines when he said the company was “keeping out unions everywhere,” while in April the airline reportedly didn’t engage with Italian unions when agreeing to labour contracts.
“Recognising workers’ freedom to form and join unions is not only a legal and moral responsibility of the employer, but also an important risk mitigation strategy,” the letter said.
“To remedy our concerns, we therefore encourage Wizz Air to publicly and formally recognise employees’ rights to form and join unions; and commit to non-discrimination on the basis of union membership.”
Investors became concerned after a whistleblower report emerged flagging pilot fatigue and flight safety issues, the news agency reported.
City PM has reached out to Wizz Air for comment.