Ryanair to meet other pilot unions

Ryanair plans to meet pilot trade unions in coming days and throughout January as it presses ahead with its pledge to recognise organised labour at the airline.

The airline's chief people officer, Eddie Wilson, confirmed that Ryanair would meet German pilots union VC in Dublin on Wednesday and the Portuguese equivalent on Thursday. "We have meetings set up all through January," he added.

However, talks between Ryanair and the Irish pilot union Impact on Tuesday failed to lift the threat of strike at Cork, Dublin and Shannon airports.

The union's spokesman Bernard Harbor said after a three-hour meeting in Dublin that Impact was disappointed that Ryanair had failed to provide written confirmation of its intention to recognise the union.

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“I can only say that it’s disappointing on our side that we have not been able to the get the thing down in writing, that the union is recognised for collective bargaining purposes,” he pointed out.

Impact has given Ryanair until noon on Thursday to conclude a recognition agreement and told the company that its mandate for strike can be implemented following the required notice.

If the company fails to provide this, Impact could issue a seven-day notice to Ryanair, leading to possible industrial action in the days following Christmas next week.

Concrete proposals

Impact suspended a strike scheduled for Wednesday after Ryanair pledged to recognise unions last Friday. The union has refused to take industrial action off the table until it receives what Mr Harbor called concrete proposals from the airline.

“We want them to put flesh on the bones of what they mean when they say we are going to recognise unions,” he said.

However, Mr Wilson described the talks as very positive. “The union put forward a set of proposals to set up a framework for fast-tracking the negotiations,” he said. “We are going to respond to them in writing by Thursday. We are very happy that they have gone the route of having a fast track.”

He also dismissed fears that pilots involved in campaigning for union recognition would be victimised in any way.

“We are now doing collective bargaining through unions and recognition and we are absolutely committed to it,” he said.

Earlier, recently appointed Ryanair chief operations officer Peter Bellew said the airline was fully committed to recognising staff unions. Speaking before the meeting with Impact, Mr Bellew acknowledged that Ryanair was adapting to "a new reality" in dealing with its workers.

Sinking value

He pointed out that Ryanair was sincere about embracing the collective bargaining model. “We would not be here if we were not,” he said.

Ryanair’s value sank by more than €2 billion between Friday and Monday following the news.

Mr Bellew estimated that the move to recognise unions, including those representing cabin crew, would cost the airline about €100 million extra a year.

That amounts to about 80 cent a ticket on the basis that Ryanair will carry close to 130 million passengers in its current financial year, which ends on March 31st.

Mr Bellew noted that the airline would not be changing its forecast that the business would make between €1.3 and €1.35 billion.

Mr Wilson argued that Ryanair had already factored in the cost of giving pilots a 20 per cent pay increase, which he said those in Cork and Shannon had accepted.