Its still the airline that people with low hours want to join (there is no one else) to get hours in order to get out and join another airline, FR is not a career airline.
There is fear, especially from the insecure, I know of a guy recently who uttered the word NO to his base Capt (It was his choice to say yes or no to the question posed) the next roster reflected his base Capt pleasure, a month on the Russian front line mainly standby away from his less than 2 month old Son in Southern Spain, are FR doing anything wrong or illegal ? no of course not, are they behaving like a caring employer, no of course not, do they give a stuff, no of course not!
Eventually the management (i use the word loosely) will push someone over the edge, i just hope they are not alone in the flight deck upstairs at the time.
I think the fuel issue at Valencia is a red herring, I'm sure they all had extra fuel but the weather was worse than expected and when things start going wrong in Spain (ATC) a sensible amount of extra fuel is suddenly not enough
Payment by the hour, self employed, no sick pay no holiday pay, but actually employed (i.e. only working for one company, wearing said company uniform, at the behest of one company) is not self employed and everything to do with lowering employment costs, simples....if FR or its employee's are not paying the correct amount of tax & social insurance they should have their feet put to the fire in the same way that Starbucks and other have in the UK.
The problem with that is that the punters don't give a stuff, Ryanairs problems start and stop at the top, the employee's, for that's what they are, are by and large good people and a significant number are embarrassed by the antics of their clown of a boss, ah but he's very successful isn't he?? NO he isn't he cynically exploits his customer, the authorities, airports and of course his mainly loyal employee's.
The UK banking industry was also (RBS) held up as a shining example of corporate success. The only circumstance under which i now fly FR is if my employer says i must, its not for no reason that there are endless threads about Ryanair on Pprune and isn't about a success story, it might be safe, it might be cheap?, it might be on time, but the story time and time again is about exploitation,fear,intimidation,bullying, not words you normally equate to a success story ??