Ryanair Xmas travel chaos after pilot vote

RYANAIR faces Christmas disruption after pilots in the capital backed industrial action.

The move is being taken in an ongoing

dispute between pilots and the airline over collective bargaining and negotiating rights.

Workers rejected the company’s existing collective bargaining structures, which they claim weaken their negotiating power.

The ballot, which was carried out by the Irish Air Line Pilots Association, covers only direct employees — most of which are captains.

A number of contractors hired through agencies and individual companies will not be subject to the action.

Impact, which represents the Irish Air Line Pilots Association, said 79 of the 84 ballot papers issued voted in favour of industrial action, with three against. Ryanair said it received no notification of any industrial action by its Dublin pilots and dismissed the reports as “more PR activity” by IALPA.

It added now Cork, Shannon and Belfast based pilots had agreed on a 20% pay increase, it expected workers in the capital would accept the deal as well.

Ryanair warned any pilots engaging in industrial action would lose their “favourable rosters” which consist of five days on and four days off. Impact said it will meet today to discuss the result of the ballot.

The ballot was taken just days after Ryanair’s former operations chief Peter Bellew returned to the company.

He returned to help the carrier overcome the damage of its pilot rostering error which caused uproar when the airline cancelled 18,000 flights.