Ryanair 1 Unions 1
The UK's High Court has sided with the pilots union BALPA and confirmed the strike that had been scheduled for Thursday and Friday can go ahead, despite a claim by Ryanair that it would cause too much disruption. Of course, as usual with Ryanair, the truth is sometimes not as forthcoming as it would be from another airline, despite telling the high court the strike would cause too much disruption, the airline was saying outside the court it would aim to minimise disruption and would run its "full schedule of flights" and passengers can expect their flights to run on time.
Ryanair said it would pull in other UK pilots, its says some have volunteered to come in o their day off to cover flights, which could in itself cause a few a safety concerns if flyers are not well-rested prior to flights. They are also calling in European pilots, including those based in Dublin, who lost a court battle for strike action Justice McDonald at Dublin's High Court said he would restrain Forsa the Irish pilots' union that represents some 180 Ryanair pilots in Ireland, "from directly or indirectly, organising, directing or endorsing" a strike by its members on Thursday and Friday. Talks will now continue in an effort to settle the dispute.
Brian Strutton, Balpa's general secretary accused Ryanair of stalling negotiations "This is a waste of time and money that would be better spent trying to resolve the dispute." he also accused the low-fare-high-fee airline of 'bully boy' tactics, "If they think they can legally bludgeon us and their pilots into submission they are wrong,"
Strutton also said, “We are clear that we want to settle the dispute and bring about a change in Ryanair for the better.
“Pilots in Ryanair are seeking the same kind of policies and agreements that exist in other airlines – our demands are not unreasonable. We want to address issues like pensions; loss of licence insurance; maternity benefits; allowances; and harmonise pay across the UK in a fair, transparent, and consistent structure.
“We hope that Ryanair will take up our offer of a way forward this evening so we can call off this action. We urge Ryanair to change their attitude to dealing with us, and adopt a constructive approach.
“In the event that Ryanair rejects our overture and therefore the action over the next two days does go ahead, we apologise to the passengers who will be affected. Such action could have been avoided if Ryanair adopts a different approach.”
In typical Ryanair fashion, the budget carrier released a deliberately vague or misleading statement, their social media teams saying there was no strike, or doing a copy and paste job rather than answering questions.
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