The low-fare-high-fee European airline Ryanair is facing more upheaval and disruption as its UK pilots have voted in favour of seven further days of strike action in a battle over pay and conditions.
Balpa - The British Airline Pilots Association had hoped the airline would negotiate and settle the dispute, but the airline has simply refused to seek conciliation.
The next rounds of strikes will be:
18-19 September for 48 hours
21 September for 24 hours
23 September for 24 hours
25 September for 24 hours
27 September for 24 hours
29 September for 24 hours
The Balpa union said its members want and deserve the same kind of agreements that exist in other airlines on pensions, loss of licence insurance, maternity benefits, allowances and pay. "While this action has considerably disrupted Ryanair, forcing them to engage contractors and bring in foreign crews to run its operation, it has had limited impact on the public's travel plans," said Balpa's general secretary Brian Strutton. "Ryanair should stop dragging its feet and get back to the negotiating table."
Ryanair says the strikes are pointless, "These latest Balpa strikes are pointless given that during five days of Balpa strikes 22,23 August and 2,3,4 September all Ryanair flights to and from UK airports operated as scheduled - with zero cancellations - thanks to the efforts of over 95% of our UK pilots who flew as rostered and did not support these failed Balpa strikes." claimed an airline spokesperson.
However, some Ryanair pilots have expressed grave concerns over Ryanair's demands that flyers work on days off to cover flights by striking colleagues.
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