Unions look to get off the ground at Ryanair
A long-running dogfight at the low-cost airline took a new turn this week with the launch of a website designed to bypass the management and communicate directly with staff. Colin Cottell reports
Saturday September 4, 2004
The Guardian
Ryanair pilots were left in little doubt about what the company thought of their trade union when, earlier this summer, a manager at Stansted airport told them: "We have no objection to any Ryanair pilot joining Balpa, the Taliban, the Monster Raving Loonies or indeed the Moonies. Each individual is perfectly free to join whatever organisation he/she so chooses."
The manager went on to advise the staff not to spend their money on union subscriptions by adding: "If you want to waste £1,000 we recommend fast women, slow horses or even greyhound racing. At least you'll have a few minutes of fun."
When asked about the email, Ryanair has consistently replied: "We do not comment on any internal communications or discussions between ourselves and our people."
The unions argue that an aggressive pursuit of profits pervades the company's management. This, they say, is reflected in the way staff are forced to pay for their uniforms and airport car parking, a refusal to pay trainees and a hostile anti-union corporate culture.
Until now, the company and its colourful chief executive Michael O'Leary appeared to hold most of the aces. Earlier this year, Mr O'Leary, who had once again successfully resisted the pilots' attempts to win trade union recognition, suggested that anyone who wasn't happy was "free to go elsewhere - godspeed to them."
But this week, the trade union movement struck back with the launch of a website designed to go over the head of Mr O'Leary and directly to his workforce, via their PCs.
In a virtual strike on the airline, the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) launched
www.ryan-be-fair.org which is described by the ITF as a "new kind of campaigning". The site has already received support from British unions such as the TGWU, the GMB, and Amicus, and from unions across Europe.
"Traditional campaigning methods, such as leafleting or union meetings, are not suitable. We intend to give our colleagues at Ryanair options other than visits to union offices at the airports, to get in touch with union representatives," said Ingo Marowsky, secretary of the ITF's civil aviation section.
"Instead, we want to invite employees to communicate with each other, and with the unions in their home countries, and to join them." The ITF stresses that one of the website's key features is its confidentiality.
In an attempt to build public pressure on the company to change its ways, the website is also designed to allow the public to find out more about the employees at Ryanair and the social practices of the company. It contains an appeal for fairness.
The website is sure to raise the hackles of the company. Pprune.org, a pilots' internet forum, recently removed a hugely popular thread titled "Ryanair, a call to action" because of the threat of legal action from the company. It has since re-opened, although to avoid legal problems, users posting messages are urged to follow strict guidelines.
The difficulties facing trade unions in Ryanair are formidable. "People are quite frightened even to mention the subject," says one Ryanair employee, who talked to Jobs & Money this week but wishes to remain anonymous.
"You could probably discuss it outside of work. But you would never discuss it on the plane, or anything like that. I was handed a union form. But I was told by the other workers that if I joined the union, I would be sacked."
He did join the union, but makes sure the company doesn't know. "I pay my subscriptions by direct debit, rather than have the company take it from my wages. The majority of staff would join a trade union. Without a doubt," he says.
Mr O' Leary and the trade unions share a history. As long ago as 1998, in a bitter dispute, he defeated a Dublin strike for union recognition by 39 baggage handlers from SIPTU, a large Irish union. Since then, he has rebuffed all unions' efforts to gain influence within the company.
"We have about half a dozen members in Ryanair. And they are extremely nervous," says Brendan Gold, the TGWU's national secretary for civil aviation.
Amicus and the GMB, with about 100 members each, tell a similar story.
Ryanair says it observes and respects the right of its employees to join a trade union. But at the same time, it says it also respects the rights of employees to continue to negotiate directly through their own elected representatives on issue of conditions and pay.
A spokesman says: "There is no evidence to suggest Ryanair pilots want the trade unions to represent them. The last time this matter was put to a secret ballot, conducted independently in October 2001 only 18% of Ryanair's Balpa members supported trade union recognition. The reason the majority do not want union recognition is because they achieve better pay and bigger pay increases by dealing directly with the company.
It says that its average salary of £50,582 is among the highest of any airline in Europe, and compares favourably with British Airways (£37,602) and EasyJet (£41,384).
However, this summer relationships between the company and its staff plummeted further when, according to trade union sources, a number of pilots organised a boycott of information meetings with Mr O'Leary in London. According to one source, those who didn't attend, and several who did, received a memo questioning their commitment to the company.
Meanwhile, Ryanair is on a collision course with some of its Irish pilots. Captain Evan Cullen, president of IALPA (the Irish pilots union) confirmed reports in the Irish Times that a number of Dublin-based pilots received individually tailored letters which contained "a clearly implied threat that pilots who engaged in union activity would not be trained on the company's new Boeing 737-800 fleet".
Mr Gold says trade unions face a long haul in persuading Ryanair employees of the benefits of an independent trade union, and achieving recognition. "One of the problems is that many of the workers in Ryanair have no knowledge of unions whatsoever. Mr O'Leary may be saying to them 'Don't worry about those unions, they are an irrelevance, and I will look after you'.
"It would be arrogant and wrong to assume that everybody in Ryanair wishes to join a union, and it is only Mr O'Leary that has prevented them," continues Mr Gold. "We recognise that cabin crew enjoy working for Ryanair."
None the less, says Mr Gold, there are "quite a number" of staff who feel they need an independent organisation to assist them, and this website provides a valuable way to engage with them.
"Ryanair is like an old eastern European country with an iron curtain around it. You can't get in from outside. We have got to open it up, and this website is an ideal mechanism to do it."