More misery for Ryanair’s passengers as strikes spread
AIR passengers could face further misery as Ryanair pilots in Sweden and Belgium are set to strike on the same day over union recognition and collective bargaining.
The pilots blamed the airline management for failing to meet union representatives for ‘more than eight months’.
Svensk Pilotförening, the Swedish airline pilots association, said it has notified Ryanair of a strike to be held on August 10. Belgian union BeCA said it is inviting all Ryanair pilots in Belgium to go on strike on the same day.
Ryanair passengers have suffered due to recent strikes in Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Italy and here.
They face yet more misery due to planned action in Germany and Holland, although pilots have not announced any strike dates as yet.
Swedish pilots leader, Martin Lindgren, said all Ryanair proposals presented in negotiations to date involved restrictions in how members were organised or represented, which was unacceptable to any union. He said strike notice was issued to Ryanair on Tuesday and around 40 pilots will be on strike.
A spokesman for Ryanair said: ‘We have written to each of these pilot unions in recent days and invited them to meet us in the coming days to make further progress in concluding union recognition and collective labour agreements in each of these markets.
‘In the interim, we have requested these pilot unions to give us seven days’ notice of any planned strike action so we can minimise the disruption to our customers by cancelling flights in advance and offering them alternative flights or refunds.’
Passengers’ woes could escalate after Ryanair pilots based in Holland voted by almost 96% to back strike action.
Pilots in Ireland are set to hold their fourth 24-hour stoppage tomorrow while the German union VC has confirmed its Ryanair members voted by 96% in favour of industrial action on Monday. In addition, Ryanair was forced to cancel a further 600 flights last week due to two days of cabin crew strikes in Spain, Italy, Portugal and Belgium.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary has warned he is prepared to move more jobs to Poland – or to cut jobs in any market if necessary – if strikes cause further damage to the airline.
Mr O’Leary said agreements with unions could be reached if there was common sense on the unions’ side.
He has waived his bonus of up to €950,000 for the past year because of the mismanagement of pilots’ annual leave, which triggered thousands of flight cancellations from September last year.
Pilots are demanding a transparent system based on seniority for the allocation of promotions, transfers and leave.
German pilots union VC has given Ryanair until Monday to come up with ‘workable’ proposals, and will announce its next move shortly.
Ryanair operates from 86 bases in 37 countries and carried 130million passengers last year.
Action across the Continent