Ryanair threatened with strike action by VC

In a press conference on Tuesday, December 12, the German Airline Pilots Association, Vereinigung Cockpit (VC), has announced that from today onwards, strike action within low-cost carrier Ryanair can be anticipated at any time. The intention behind the action is to assist Pilots at Ryanair with their collective bargaining process for fair and transparent working conditions. Management at Ryanair has always claimed that its pilots’ terms are benchmarked against competitor B737 operators, so the German Ryanair Company Council used TUIfly as a comparison.
According to Ingolf Schumacher, Head of the VC´s Industrial Negotiating Department, “The Ryanair pilots need to end the systematic social dumping, this can only be accomplished with trade union support. If we don´t do it now, when will there be another chance?”
Ryanair is currently experiencing the departure of what is understood to be a large number of pilots owing to high European and worldwide demand for pilots, resulting in the cancelation of several flights through crewing issues
The initial industrial action is being called by several pilot unions, with Italian pilots’ association planning strike action within the next few days. Portugal will provide more information about their plans the next days, while yesterday, pilots in Ireland voted for the implementation of industrial action.
Ilja Schulz stated that: “Ryanair can stop the German industrial action right now by declaring the willingness to negotiate proper terms and conditions of work and remuneration, a last chance is still being offered,” adding “Otherwise, Ryanair will be fully responsible for future industrial actions.”
VC has been keen to clarify that for those passengers who are traveling in the Christmas period between the afternoon of December 23 and including December 26, there will be no disruptions due to industrial action.