Ryanair strikes: Airline seeks High Court injunction to stop Irish pilot walkout

Airline attempts to prevent Irish pilots from striking this week

Moving forward? Irish pilots have given Ryanair an untimatum (Aaron Chesham)

As Ryanair pilots in the UK gear up to strike later this week, today the High Court will hear an application from the budget airline to stop Irish pilots from staging a simultaneous walkout.

Some 180 pilots who are members of the Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association (Ialpa) are planning industrial action running for 48 hours from just after midnight on Thursday, after 94 per cent voted in favour of strike action two weeks ago.

The union has accused Ryanair of using “stalling tactics” in the negotiation process.

However, Europe’s largest airline was granted permission to apply for an injunction against Fórsa, Ialpa’s parent union.

Ryanair’s legal counsel told the High Court that Fórsa hadn’t allowed for the mediation process to be completed before announcing the strike, and claimed the walkout would be in breach of an agreement made between the airline and the union last year.

Pilots voted in favour of industrial action over pay and working conditions, with Ialpa writing in a statement that “the airline, which posted profits of €1bn last year, is in a healthy financial position and can fairly reward its pilots".

The union first submitted a pay claim to Ryanair in March 2019 “seeking pay levels and structures that are in line with sector norms”, but says the company has made no formal counter-proposal.

Fórsa assistant general secretary Ian McDonnell said pilots “feel they have been forced into contemplating potentially disruptive industrial action by a company that seems either unwilling or unable to negotiate in a professional and constructive manner".

Ryanair’s chief people officer Eddie Wilson said: “We have done everything in our power to avoid disruption to our flights and our customers’ holidays. However, no company can concede to grossly unreasonable demands from its highest paid workers for a further pay increase of over 100 per cent (when they already agreed and received a 20 per cent pay increase earlier this year) at a time when the airline industry is in crisis.”

It comes as Ryanair pilots based in the UK also prepare for stoppages on Thursday 22 and Friday 23 August, and on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 2-4 September.

The Independent estimates that around 350,000 travellers are booked to fly on British-crewed flights on those dates – with up to 50,000 seats still to be sold on those departures.

Because of the Ryanair business model it is unlikely that flights on any adjacent days, for example 24 August or 1 September, will be affected.

If a settlement is not found, experience of Ryanair pilots’ strikes over the past year suggests the impact is likely to be patchy, with around one-third to one-half of UK-crewed flights cancelled.

British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) said: “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.”