Summer holiday misery from risk of Ryanair strikes
Pilots in 24-hour stoppage as cabin crew to unveil demands
THOUSANDS of Ryanair passengers face the prospect of summer strike chaos after pilots served notice of a 24-hour stoppage on Thursday week – and warned there is more to come.
The airline may face more turbulence as other groups of staff are set to demand better conditions, while there are fears that industrial action will hit bases abroad.
Sources said a series of daylong strikes could be on the way that could escalate into an all-out strike by pilot unions across Europe.
More than 100 directly employed Irish-based pilots voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action yesterday.
A total of 99pc of the pilots, represented by the Irish Airline Pilots Association (Ialpa), backed strikes in a row over who gets first call on workplace perks including holidays, promotion, and transfers to bases.
Ialpa is a division of trade union Fórsa, which said the strike would last for 24 hours, beginning at 1am on Thursday, July 12. It told the no-frills airline that it would notify it of more strike days “in due course”.
As many as 30 Ryanair aircraft take off from Dublin each morning between 6am and 8am during the summer.
This equals as many as 5,600 passengers travelling out of the capital between those times.
A group representing Ryanair cabin crew from across Europe and North Africa will today unveil a list of demands following a two-day summit.
Ryanair said next week’s strike would affect just 7pc of its flights.
THOUSANDS of Ryanair passengers face the prospect of summer strike chaos after pilots served notice of a 24-hour stoppage on Thursday week – and warned there is more to come.
Sources said a series of daylong strikes could be on the way that could escalate into an all-out strike by pilot unions across Europe.
More than 100 directly employed Irish-based pilots voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action yesterday.
A total of 99pc of the pilots, represented by the Irish Airline Pilots Association (Ialpa), backed strikes in a row over who gets first call on workplace perks including holidays, promotion, and transfers to bases.
Ialpa is a division of Fórsa, which said the strike action will last for 24 hours beginning at 1am on Thursday, July 12.
It said it has told the no-frills airline that it will notify it of more strike days “in due course”.
As many as 30 Ryanair aircraft take off from Dublin each morning between 6am and 8am during the summer.
This equals as many as 5,600 passengers travelling out of the capital between those times.
The airline may face more turbulence as other groups of staff are set to demand better conditions, while there are fears that industrial action will hit bases abroad.
A group representing Ryanair cabin crew from across Europe and North Africa will today unveil a list of demands following a two-day summit.
The ‘Ryanair Must Change’ Facebook page warns that a European-wide strike is “approaching” and says a meeting will take place in Brussels tomorrow.
It said the focus of the Dublin summit, organised by the International Transport Workers Federation, will be working conditions, including the terms and conditions of contracts that often vary between members of the same crew.
In a notice to customers, Ryanair said next week’s strike would affect just 7pc of its flights.
“Since Ireland accounts for less than 7pc of Ryanair flights, we expect that 93pc of our customers will be unaffected by any Irish pilot strike next Thursday,” it said.
It said it would communicate next Tuesday with all customers travelling from Ireland on the day of the “unnecessary” strike by email and text.
There were angry responses from some customers who complained this was leaving it too late.
Ryanair said that it made a proposal to Fórsa to address pilot concerns and invited the union to meet on 18 occasions but it failed to reply or attend.
It said that it has invited the union to a meeting next Wednesday.
But union sources said the proposal is not the foundation for a settlement.
Fórsa claimed a request for talks was met with a threat to move Dublin-based aircraft and pilots to other airports. However, a spokesperson said it was available for talks.
Ryanair may have difficulties drafting captains from outside Ireland to operate flights during a strike, as it would probably mean having to cull flights at other bases.
It is understood there are only about a dozen contractor Ryanair pilots based in Dublin. If they are rostered to work, it is likely they will but those who are not are highly unlikely to do so.