Ryanair is facing further backlash from its Irish and UK pilots, after Irish union Fórsa walked out of pay negotiations and UK union BALPA accused the airline of adopting “bully boy tactics” to avert an Aug. 22 strike.
BALPA submitted a detailed pay and conditions claim to the airline in March, but the union said none of its demands have been met, resulting in an 80% vote in favor of strike action.
On Aug. 15, BALPA called on Ryanair to meet for talks to avert the planned walkouts on Aug. 22 and Sept. 4, with conciliation service ACAS acting as an intermediary.
“Our members’ experience of trying to negotiate directly with Ryanair management has not been good,” BALPA general secretary Brian Strutton said.
However, on Aug. 16 BALPA issued a further statement, saying Ryanair is seeking a court injunction against the Aug. 22 strike.
“This is typical Ryanair bully boy behavior,” Strutton said. “They have got a serious situation here with their own workforce. Rather than working with us to improve things, they are dragging this into court.”
Ryanair said less than 50% of its UK pilots are BALPA members and—of these members—just 57% voted in favor of industrial action, representing less than 30% of its UK pilots.
Meanwhile, on Aug. 15, Ryanair said Irish pilots represented by the Fórsa union had withdrawn from mediation talks.
Ryanair chief people officer Eddie Wilson described Fórsa’s pay demands as “grossly unreasonable,” adding that the union is seeking a 101% pay increase, despite some salaries exceeding €172,000 ($191,000).
“Ryanair pilots are insisting on these pay demands being met, just one day after Norwegian announced the closure of its Dublin operations with the loss of over 120 crew jobs, despite the fact that Ryanair has a surplus of over 500 pilots due to the delayed delivery of over 30 [Boeing 737] MAX aircraft this winter, and just 10 weeks before a ‘no-deal’ Brexit could cause further disruption to air travel and airline jobs in Ireland and the UK,” Ryanair said.
The LCC called on its Irish pilots to return to mediation with “reasonable proposals” that reflect Ryanair’s lower airfares and profits, while also taking account their current salaries, which are already 20% higher than 737 pilots at LCC Norwegian and leisure carrier Jet2.
Forsa’s pilots have voted 94% in favor of strike action, which will take place Aug. 22 and 23, with further strike days planned.
The union said it went into mediation talks seeking pay levels and structures “in line with sector norms,” but Ryanair has failed to come back with a “significant response” to proposals over a four-month period. No counter-proposal was made by Ryanair management during the meeting, Forsa said.
“IALPA is seeking pay levels it believes are common and competitive in the commercial airline sector, from a company that made a substantial profit of €1 billion last year. They tell me they feel forced into serving notice of potentially disruptive industrial action by a company that seems either unwilling or unable to negotiate in a professional, transparent and constructive manner,” Fórsa national secretary Angela Kirk said.