Curious they mention only 'sick pay: what about holiday pay? Pilots & cabin crew, they allege, are paid NOT for the work/duty they actually do, but only the time they were planned to do. That sounds even worse than a zero-hour contract; and perhaps gives RYR a legal escape when claiming there are no zero-hour contracts at RYR.
The mandatory company designated unpaid month off policy reminds me of a ruse used by an old employer of mine for 75% of cabin crew. They were employed on 11 month contracts and forced to take December off, unpaid. They were then re-hired on January 1st for another 11 months. That way they circumvented the EU rules that anyone working for 12 months continuously was deemed to be full-time employed. I do not know if that is still the case, but forcing an unpaid month off, instead of 2 x 2week separate periods seems a similar tactic. Curious.