Ryanair recognizes unions to avert strike action
Pilots in Italy suspend action after announcement
LONDON: Budget carrier Ryanair said Friday it is reversing its longstanding refusal to recognize pilots’ unions in a bid to avert strikes in six European countries over the busy Christmas season.
Chief Executive Michael O’Leary said the airline wants to ease customers’ concerns “that they may be disrupted by pilot industrial action next week.”
“If the best way to achieve this is to talk to our pilots through a recognized union process, then we are prepared to do so,” he said.
Ryanair pilots in Ireland and Germany both voted to take industrial action over the holiday season in disputes over pay and conditions. Italian and Portuguese pilot unions also threatened strikes in the coming days.
Ryanair, which insisted earlier this week it would not deal with the unions, said its new offer was conditional on unions in the six countries setting up special committees to deal with issues related to the airline.
Ryanair pilots in Italy suspended a strike planned for Friday afternoon after the company’s announcement.
The airline had come under intense criticism in Italy for a letter to employees threatening action against anyone who strikes.
The Fit-Cisl union threatened legal action in response, saying Ryanair’s letter violated the Italian constitution, while the government asked the company for clarification of its intentions.
Economic Development Minister Carlo Calenda said on private TV La7 that Ryanair’s move to recognize unions was not a concession: “It’s the minimum, and not enough.”
A spokesman for the Irish pilots’ union said it had not yet received any correspondence from Ryanair, but “when we do we will be giving it full consideration.”
O’Leary’s refusal to recognize unions was at the heart of the ultra low-cost model he developed to turn a small Irish regional airline into Europe’s largest carrier by passenger numbers.
“Recognizing unions will be a significant change for Ryanair, but we have delivered radical change before,” O’Leary said in a statement. “We hope and expect that these structures can and will be agreed with our pilots early in the New Year.”
A Ryanair spokesman said the offer of recognition was so far just being made to pilots in the six countries, but “if other pilot unions who represent our pilots approach us, we will consider their request.”
It was not clear if recognition will eventually be extended to other employees.
“If we’re recognizing pilot unions, then we’ll wait and see what comes in other parts of the workforce,” Chief People Officer Eddie Wilson said.
He said, however, that he did not expect management would deal with an unofficial pan-European pilot body, the European Employee Representative Council (EERC), that pilots have formed in recent months.
“I think this EERC thing was always unworkable,” he said. “I think ultimately what you will have is that unions are probably just interested in their own countries.”
He said it was unclear if talks might lead to the concession of another demand by pilots: Local contracts rather than the Irish contracts used across Ryanair’s European bases.
“The unions will have that high on their agenda,” he said. “We’ll sit down and talk to them about it.”
The pilots have mobilized in the wake of the announcement of 20,000 flight cancelations by the Irish carrier, which it blamed on a lack of standby pilots due to a failure in its rostering following a rule change by Irish regulators.
Pilot groups have said Ryanair is facing a major staffing shortage, but management has repeatedly denied this.
While pilots say pay and some conditions offered by Ryanair is competitive, many complain of a toxic work atmosphere and say that the collective bargaining system gives far too much power to management.
Ryanair says it is offering some of the best pay and conditions in the sector.