Ryanair’s UK pilots announce strike dates in pay dispute

UK pilots employed by Ryanair are planning a series of strikes this month as part of a row over pay.

Pilots’ union Balpa reported that members had backed walkouts by a majority of 80% on a turnout of 72%.

Its national executive council later settled on two strike dates.

The first stoppage will last 48 hours, from Thursday 22 August until Friday 23 August.

The second covers three days, from Monday 2 September until Wednesday 4 September.

Balpa said pilots did not want to disrupt travel plans and it hoped strikes could be avoided if Ryanair came to the negotiating table.

The airline responded angrily, accusing the union of causing “unnecessary disruption” to customers and having no mandate to strike.

The threatened strikes add to travel misery facing airline customers; from an IT failure at British Airways to the possibility of strikes by BA pilots in a separate pay dispute.

The Ryanair ballot was called amid frustration with the airline on several fronts.

Balpa said: “Decades of Ryanair refusing to deal with unions has resulted in two things.

“Firstly, a management that apparently doesn’t understand how to work with unions, and secondly a company that doesn’t have a number of standard agreements that any union would reasonably expect in any workplace.

“That is why our claim includes many issues including pensions; loss of licence insurance; maternity benefits; allowances; and a fair, transparent, and consistent pay structure.

“We have made no progress with Ryanair management on any of those areas at all, seemingly because Ryanair management cannot understand how to go about working with us constructively, or how to negotiate. Ryanair has made no offer to Balpa in respect of its pilots.”

There could be a double whammy of bad news for the Ireland-based airline as the result of a separate ballot involving its Irish pilots is due to be announced on Friday.

Ryanair has admitted a series of headwinds facing its business as the industry battles higher fuel bills at a time of greater economic uncertainty.

Profits have been squeezed by falling fares – a result of stiff competition.

It has also been forced to trim its growth plans because of the crisis facing the grounded Boeing 737 MAX fleet.

As pilots in the UK and Ireland voted in their strike ballot, it also emerged last week that Ryanair was planning to cut 900 jobs because it had too many staff to meet its needs.

The company’s boss, Michael O’Leary, said 500 of those under threat were pilots.

Just two years ago, Ryanair blamed the cancellation of 2,000 flights on a lack of pilots – forcing it to recruit heavily.

The PR disaster forced Ryanair – no stranger to strained industrial relations – to climb down in its past refusal to recognise unions, though relations are known to be strained in many key markets.

A cabin crew union in Portugal said on Wednesday that the airline was planning to shut its base at Faro airport with the loss of 120 jobs.

It had called a strike just days earlier.

Ryanair said of the UK strike ballot: “The independent result of Balpa’s ballot shows that less than 50% of Ryanair’s UK pilots are members of Balpa, and of these, just 57% voted in favour of industrial action.

“This is less than 30% of Ryanair’s UK pilots.”

It added: “Balpa have no mandate to disrupt our customers holidays and flights, particularly at a time when UK pilots are facing job losses due to the Boeing MAX delivery delays, and the threat of a no deal Brexit on 31 Oct.

“Last year, Ryanair’s UK pilots agreed a 20% salary increase, with senior captain’s earning up to £180,000 p.a., which is more than competitor airline pilots in Norwegian or Jet2.”

Its statement concluded: “We have written to Balpa asking them to return to talks, and we apologise sincerely to customers for any uncertainty that Balpa’s ballot may cause them.

“We hope Balpa will now work with Ryanair to minimise job losses instead of undertaking ill-judged and ill-timed industrial action.”

(c) Sky News 2019: Ryanair’s UK pilots announce strike dates in pay dispute