Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Solidarity

Ryanair pilots in Germany,  Ireland, Italy and Portugal have voted to engage in some form of industrial action in the near future.

 The Irish Airline Pilots’ Association (IALPA) said that its Ryanair staff members will strike on Wednesday, December 20.

Pilots in Italy and Portugal also voted for similar action over the past week.

Vereinigung Cockpit (VC), the German pilots union that represents some Ryanair pilots based in Germany, announced the decision to take industrial action  although it is not yet clear when it  would take place or indeed, precisely what form it will take.

Ryanair has steadfastly refused to engage with unions over the years, but relations between the airline and its staff — particularly pilots — have become increasingly strained. Rostering issues, combined with what is believed to have been a significant shortage of available pilots, is believed to have the main cause of the mass cancellations. Since then, an increasing number of Ryanair pilots have been seeking collective bargaining power rights. So far, Ryanair has refused to engage in any collective union negotiations.

It is almost one year since Ryanair pilots based in Germany formed a "company council" as part of the Vereinigung Cockpit union to represent their interests in Germany. As well as that, the recently formed European Employee Representative Council (EERC) is seeking to represent Ryanair pilots based across Europe but mirroring its policy towards unions, Ryanair has so refused to engage with it. 

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