German pilots’ union to press ahead with Ryanair meeting

German pilots' union VC says it still intends meeting Ryanair in January after organising the airline's first ever pilots' strike on Friday.

VC members directly employed by Ryanair in Germany held a four-hour walkout although airports and the airline said there had been little impact on flights.

Following the action the union’s director of international affairs, James Phillips, said that VC was “more than happy” to meet Ryanair next month.

“We will be initiating contact with them,” he said.

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Ryanair met VC officials in Dublin this week but the parties clashed when the airline refused to deal with one of the union’s company council members.

The company council is comprised of union members who are Ryanair pilots, but the airline said that one of them was not an employee. VC accused Ryanair of attempting to trample on its autonomy.

Mr Phillips stressed on Friday that VC would not allow Ryanair to dictate who the members of the union’s negotiating team could be, but indicated that some solution could be found.

Ryanair this week reversed a long-held policy and agreed to recognise unions to avert strikes at Irish and European airports.

The Irish Airline Pilots’ Association - part of trade union Impact - has called off a threatened Ryanair strike at Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports after the company wrote confirming its intention to recognise the organisation.

However, VC staged its walkout saying it did not believe Ryanair was serious about negotiating with unions.

"This was a warning shot and we started small. However, there is potential for much more," union spokesman Markus Wahl said, ruling out further strikes until after December 26th.

He told the Financial Times that more walkouts before January 5th were "probable" if Ryanair "does not move".

Friday’s stoppage strike ran from 4.01am to 7.59am, when only 16 flights were scheduled.

Christmas

Ryanair, which had urged pilots to work to get passengers home for Christmas, said nine of its 36 early flights from Germany were delayed. There were no cancellations and it expected to operate all scheduled flights on Friday.

“We are grateful to all of our Ryanair pilots for putting our customers first and largely ignoring this VC strike,” the airline said in a statement.

Mr Phillips said that the action was intended to delay rather than cancel flights. “According to our figures, all the flights were delayed until after the strike,” he added.

He said that the union was happy with the solidarity displayed by directly-employe Ryanair pilots in Germany.

A spokesman for Berlin airports said there were no significant effects, noting that five of seven early flights had departed, with one delayed.

Cologne/Bonn airport said two of three scheduled flights had taken off and the third was delayed. Frankfurt airport said four of six scheduled flights had taken off.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary told Reuters this week that his offer of union recognition was genuine but that employees must understand it will remain a low cost airline. Negotiations with unions will continue in the new year.

-Additional reporting: Reuters