Originally Posted by
ayroplain
Thanks SigWit, that was some read (after translation
) and a lot to take in. Well worth it, though.
As people have said, it was, undoubtedly, as one-sided a judgment as I've possibly ever seen.
Trying to maintain a balance and bearing in mind that the strikes were, allegedly, the cause of the closure of the base, I couldn't find any mention of the judge requesting any details as to what the strikes were about. In my view this would have a considerable bearing in order to make a judgment on whether the pilots' demands were reasonable or not in the first place especially with future strikes promised if not conceded. Is that information in the public domain, i.e. the pilots' demands?
There was mention that one of the claimants was withdrawing his claim to which Ryanair agreed. It would be interesting to know why one decided to withdraw.
Firstly, something to keep in mind is the fact that workers have a lot of rights in the Netherlands. That may be the reason that some of the rulings may sound strange to foreigners.
One of the rights is the right to strike. For a judge the reason doesn't really matter, if a strike is a legal one the striking employees may not face ANY negative consequences.
(other then not getting paid for the days that they where striking). In this case no judge forbid the strike, so it is a legal one and whatever the demands were, it may not have negative consequences.
Big issue is also the fact that this is civil right. Unlike criminal law, it is way more lenient with proof. For example: The pilots claimed that the closure is due to the strikes. Ryanair claims it is due to economic reason but fails to prove so. Thus the judge rules that the closure is due to the strike (also based on letters send earlier by Ryanair stating that they will close the base if strikes occur, not so smart).
This is actually how the law works in The Netherlands, with a lot of protection for the workers, not so much for the companies. We will have to wait and see what happens when Ryanair declares those pilots redundant and goes to court. Your guess is as good as mine in that respect