Pilots beat O’Leary: the real inside story

Strike threat lingers despite Ryanair’s huge climbdown

RYANAIR pilots have been planning their threatened Christmas strike – which has forced Michael O’Leary to deal with their union – for weeks.

The pilots move caused the biggest climbdown in the airline’s 32-year history.

But even as the airline, headed by chief executive Michael O’Leary, vowed yesterday to recognise trade unions, the threat of a 24-hour strike at the airline on Wednesday remains on the cards.

It’s understood the Ryanair board approved the decision for union recognition this week.

Mr O’Leary insisted he was recognising unions to avoid travel disruption at Christmas.

“Recognising unions will be a significant change for Ryanair, but we have delivered radical change before,” he said.

Yesterday, in a telephone conference with chief pilots across Ryanair’s bases in Europe, Mr O’Leary said the offer of union recognition was genuine.

But a game of brinkmanship broke out, as Ryanair told trade union Impact that management would be unable to meet union representatives until Wednesday – the day of the planned strike. Impact wants the meeting to take place prior to Wednesday, and will only call off the strike once that happens. Weeks ago, the Irish Independent was aware that strikes close to Christmas were a real possibility and were being considered if Ryanair didn’t proactively respond to pilot demands.

HELL has not frozen over, but change has suddenly swept like a hurricane through Ryanair. The dramatic announcement yesterday that it will recognise unions is arguably the single biggest change in the airline’s 32-year history.

It also wiped more than €1.5bn from the stock market valuation of the company.

Ryanair’s chief people officer Eddie Wilson wrote to unions in Ireland, Italy, Spain, the UK and Germany yesterday inviting them to talks in order to recognise them as the representative bodies for Ryanair pilots in each of those countries.

But strike action in Ireland planned for Wednesday by staff Ryanair pilots who are members of the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association (Ialpa) remains a possibility unless the airline’s management and trade union Impact meet before then.

Ryanair has told the union that the company is unable to meet them until Wednesday and insisted that the “sensible” thing was for the strike to be called off and the meeting to be held that day.

Mr O’Leary held a conference call yesterday with chief pilots across Ryanair’s almost 90-strong base network. He told them the offer of union recognition was genuine.

A pilot-rostering fiasco in September that forced Ryanair to cancel tens of thousands of flights and ground aircraft into next year has proved to be the catalyst for the massive union U-turn by Ryanair.

And just as that debacle resulted in a global media frenzy, so too has yesterday’s announcement.

Pilots and unions across Europe have been methodically tightening the screws on Ryanair for months, demanding union recognition, the right to bargain collectively, and better working conditions.

Ryanair, headed by chief executive Michael O’Leary, had insisted for weeks after the roster revelations that the airline had seen off the crisis. But while it tried to put the lid on one, another was brewing.

The pilots and unions, like lions in the tall grass, smelled blood. They knew they had a chance they might never have again, and pounced. It was never clear they would succeed in their effort to force change at Ryanair. Had they wavered at all, their cause would have been quickly lost.

The situation moved rapidly in the early weeks, from September to October.

News broke from early morning to late at night, with the Irish Independent getting the inside scoop on many of the moves pilots were making as they engineered what would be the most sensational climbdown ever by Ryanair.

Mr O’Leary had repeatedly vowed neither he nor Ryanair would ever deal with unions. Agitated pilots and unions were dismissed by the airline as being no more than desperate rabble-rousers who weren’t even employed by Ryanair, or represented staff at competing airlines.

But it was clear there was a groundswell of support among Ryanair pilots to stand their ground and initiate change, no matter how much Ryanair wanted to deny it.

Mr O’Leary had incensed his own pilots following the airline’s annual general meeting in September, in the midst of the rostering failure, by dismissing the complexity of their work. He later insisted his comments had been taken out of context.

In early October, he penned a letter to his 4,200 pilots, urging them not to leave for rival airlines. This from the billionaire chief executive who once described pilots as “glorified taxi drivers”.

Meanwhile, Ryanair went on a hiring scramble. It needed to shore up its pilot numbers, especially as its fleet continues to expand.

Seasoned pilots, meanwhile, were busy making sure they would be on solid legal ground if they decided to take industrial action. It was an arduous task given the 87 bases in the Ryanair network. But across Europe, they linked up with unions, forming Ryanair councils under those unions’ umbrellas so that when they took action they would have legal and organisation backing.

Pilots were carefully plotting the strategy that would lead to this week’s events. They just thought it would take a lot longer.

Weeks ago, the Irish Independent was aware that strikes close to Christmas were a real possibility and were being considered if Ryanair didn’t proactively respond to pilot demands.

While publicly Ryanair dismissed the pilot movement, it was clearly concerned.

The extensive reporting in this newspaper – including reports that revealed the significant resolve of pilots to achieve their aims – led to Ryanair initiating legal against this reporter and INM, the publisher of this newspaper.

The airline’s communications became erratic.

Replies from the airline to business-like queries from this newspaper regarding the pilots’ efforts to unionise as well as the threat of strikes, were increasingly personalised, and lacked the tone one would expect from a large corporation in its dealings with anyone.

Meanwhile, the airline drafted in its own former executive, Peter Bellew, in an effort to help quell the pilot dissent.

He was working as chief executive of Malaysia Airlines, but parachuted from there to join Ryanair as its chief operations officer. He probably played a pivotal role in Ryanair’s unprecedented announcement yesterday.

But as it came clear pilots had organised across Europe and were preparing industrial action, Ryanair started to threaten them. That incensed them ever further.

The airline said that any of its pilots or cabin crew who went on strike would be hit with pay cuts, changes to working rosters, and no promotions.

Pilots who spoke to the Irish Independent were incredulous. Their organisers told them to stand firm in the face of the onslaught, and stressed they would fall if they became divided or wavered. But it was under Ryanair management that the ground was moving.

The sheer momentum behind Ryanair’s pilots across Europe had reached critical mass.

Once the pilots in Ireland announced they would strike next week, the Portuguese followed suit. Pilots in Italy were already set to strike yesterday, and Ryanair staff pilots in Germany who were union members were preparing behind the scenes to strike next week.

There was a chain reaction under way. For Ryanair, the danger was it would completely lose control of the situation. The fuse had been lit. But Ryanair, like a scene from a movie with only seconds left to avert catastrophe, has clipped the right wire. The countdown had stopped. Or so it seemed.

That first contact meeting between the airline management and Impact needs to happen before Wednesday avert the 24-hour strike.

For now, pilots and unions remain cautious. They’ve never been in this situation before with Ryanair. It’s like two teenagers fumbling around at the disco for the first time. No one’s quite sure what to do or what happens next.

MOmentous

But it’s clear that for pilots and trade unions, this is a momentous shift in attitude by Ryanair. But what will be the outcome? What will Ryanair yield to? Will both sides be able to have constructive negotiations that can achieve acceptable results for both sides?

And make no mistake, the floodgates are open.

Ryanair’s Eddie Wilson said yesterday that the airline was also open to union recognition for cabin crew and baggage handlers. International unions yesterday called for exactly that to happen. And it all leaves one big question: what now for Michael O’Leary? He’s been an exceptional businessman, certainly one of Ireland’s most dynamic ever.

In a 2010 interview with the

Irish Independent, he insisted he would soon leave the airline. But he signed a five-year contract in 2014. Asked by the Irish

Independent at the time if he would stay on after the contract ends in 2019, he shrugged.

“I might not be the right CEO in five years’ time. The board might want me to go.”

It will be interesting to see if his current term will be his last. Whatever his legacy, yesterday, all changed, changed utterly.