Ryanair hits out at strike ‘blackmail’
Disruption likely as ante upped in pilots’ dispute
THE prospect of Thursday’s strike by almost 100 unionised Ryanair pilots going ahead grew yesterday as the union hit out at a management memo in which the strike threat was described as ‘blackmail’.
The 24-hour strike action by Ryanair’s Irish-based pilots is due to start at 1am on Thursday – with the prospect of future strikes by cabin crew in other European countries also looming later this month.
The no-frills airline has predicted its customers ‘should not be disrupted’ but travel experts estimate up to 120 flights are at risk of being impacted, with up to 35 potentially being disrupted or even cancelled entirely.
So far, both sides have been unable to even agree on a location to hold talks, with Ryanair insisting the talks should take place at its Dublin headquarters rather than a neutral venue. The dispute is over an agreement relating to covering base transfers, promotion, annual leave and other issues governed by length of service.
RTÉ yesterday reported that an internal memo to staff in Ryanair, which is headed up by Michael O’Leary, described the threatened pilot strike action as ‘blackmail’, and said the airline will ‘face down’ the action.
However, a spokesman for Fórsa, the trade union representing the pilots, said the comments have divided the two parties further. ‘My first reaction is that, first of all, it’s unhelpful, and it’s the type of language that pushes parties further apart in industrial relations,’ Niall Shanahan said.
He also dismissed a statement issued by Ryanair in which it said that just 94 of Ryanair’s 350 Irishbased pilots supported the strike. Mr Shanahan said: ‘We only balloted pilots that are directly employed by Ryanair, there is between 100-120 of them and 99% of them voted in favour. They’re the only ones who will be engaged in strike action, they’re the only ones we balloted, so there is more than a sufficient mandate from that group of pilots to engage in the strike action,’ he said.
Strike action has spread to other European countries at peak season also, with crew in Italy set to hold a 24-hour strike on July 24 and cabin crew in Spain, Belgium and Portugal holding a 48hour strike on July 25-26.
There is no indication so far that cabin crew in Dublin will take industrial action.
A similar action by pilots in Dublin was planned in December but was suspended at the 11th hour when it was announced that Ryanair would recognise unions and negotiate with them.
Editor of TravelExtra.ie, Eoghan Corry said he fears the crisis could potentially escalate.
‘What the Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association will be looking at is not just the numbers they have but the seniority of them, I think they have a bigger reach into captains than they have into pilots, so that could mean that even though their numbers are small they could disrupt a few of the flights. In theory, there’s 120 flights – you could expect 35-40 of them to be disrupted, to be halted,’ he said.
‘35-40 flights could be halted’
NOT even Ryanair’s biggest defenders could have ever said the airline had a good reputation for staff relations.
But the circular issued to employees yesterday about a planned 24-hour stoppage by pilots has raised the stakes by a considerable margin. The memo described the strike threat as ‘blackmail’ and said that management will ‘face down’ the action.
This sort of language would make no sense at the best of times, but even less so at the height of the holiday season. For the company to belatedly agree to recognise unions and then to refer to its members in such disparaging terms simply makes no sense. Meanwhile, the two sides have yet to even agree on a venue to discuss their differences. It increasingly looks like the big losers here will be people who have spent the whole year looking forward to their summer holidays. And given Ryanair’s reputation, it won’t be the pilots they’ll blame.