The president of the Irish Airline Pilots' Association (IALPA), Evan Cullen, has called on Ryanair's board of directors to consider the implications of yesterday's High Court judgment.
Mr Cullen said Mr Justice Thomas Smyth's comments in relation to the corporate culture at the low-cost airline, where he concluded the only evidence of bullying in this case was by Ryanair itself, underpinned the victimisation complaints that have been made by 254 Ryanair pilots.
He wants Ryanair's board, which is chaired by US investor, David Bonderman, to examine the judge's strong comments about the behaviour of some of the airline's senior management. Ryanair said it was disappointed with the judgment.
It expressed disappointment with the outcome of the action it had taken against the Repa website, which published a number of threats including criminal activities against Ryanair employees, some of them specifically identified, who did not participate in a trade union campaign in Dublin.
"Ryanair took this case in order to protect our employees and to identify the names of just three individuals who had made anonymous postings on the Repa website advocating threats [including the slashing of car tyres] against specific Ryanair employees who had accepted positions here in Dublin, which was contrary to the campaign being waged by the pilot trade union," a statement said.
"Had Ryanair not taken action to identify and prevent the publication of these threats, Ryanair may have been accused of allowing its employees to be bullied or intimidated by these pilot trade union activists," it added.
Ryanair said this decision showed the difficulties that employers face when dealing with anonymous trade union websites which are used by their members to publish threats and/or advocate criminal activities against specific individuals or employees who do not wish to participate in their trade union campaigns. It said it will continue to defend its constitutional right to deal directly with its employees.
"We will continue to fight for the right of the vast majority of our employees who wish to continue to deal directly with the company - to be allowed to do so - without being bullied or intimidated by pilot trade unions or their anonymous websites," said the statement.
