Ryanair threatened with further strikes this year

Ryanair faces the threat of more strikes across Europe despite announcing this week that it was close to settling its long-running dispute with pilots in many of its most important markets.

The airline said yesterday that it had signed an agreement with the Portuguese pilot union SPAC, which will provide for seniority and base transfer agreements to cover all of Ryanair’s directly employed pilots in Portugal.

Negotiations with SPAC on a full collective labour agreement (CLA) under Portuguese Law with local contracts will start before the end of the month, it said.

Ryanair claimed it had signed similar agreements this week with BALPA in the UK and ANPAC in Italy, covering all of Ryanair’s directly employed UK and Italian pilots. However, BALPA said members had not yet voted on the proposal put forward by Ryanair.

Following negotiations in Madrid this week, Ryanair said it expects to sign a recognition agreement with Spanish pilot union SEPLA shortly, which will pave the way for ‘rapid’ negotiations on a CLA, and under Spanish law.

However, Belgian unions CNE and LBC-NVK said cabin crew were planning several days of strikes before the end of the year if Ryanair doesn’t give all crew local contracts, rather than employing staff under Irish law.

The Belgian unions issued a statement late yesterday saying that unions representing cabin crew across Europe had ‘decided to put Ryanair on probation’ and ‘if Ryanair does not radically change position and attitude, we will organise several strike days before the end of the year’.

A staff walkout at Ryanair on September 28 grounded planes in Germany, Belgium, Portugal, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy, hitting more than 40,000 passengers.

The Belgian unions said they had received assurances from the European Commission that it would pressure EU countries to enforce legislation on their territory.

Ryanair’s chief people officer Eddie Wilson said:"These signed agreements with our pilot unions in Portugal, the UK, Italy and shortly in Spain, demonstrate the considerable progress we’re making in concluding union agreements with our people in our major EU markets.

"The recent wave of airline failures in Europe including Primera Air, Cobalt, Air Azur, and Small Planet (GER), as well as base closures/cuts announced by many of Europe’s major airlines in response to higher oil prices and lower air fares, have given a significant stimulus to these union negotiations over recent weeks. Ryanair’s pilots and cabin crew recognise that they enjoy better pay, better rosters, and significantly better job security than their counterparts at many other EU airlines, and we for our part, are recognising and working with unions to conclude agreements which address the major issues of concern to our pilots and cabin crew in all our major EU markets.

"I expect that these agreements in Spain, and Portugal in particular, will encourage the cabin crew unions in both those countries to remove competitor airline employees (who have been blocking progress) and to quickly conclude cabin crew agreements in those countries, as that’s what our Portuguese and Spanish cabin crew are now demanding."