Todays Irish Independant
A RYANAIR pilot has been granted a temporary injunction by the High Court restraining the company from conducting disciplinary proceedings against him before February 28 - the date of the next court hearing about the dispute.
John Goss, Yellow Walls Road, Malahide, Co Dublin, had obtained a temporary court order on Wednesday and when the matter was mentioned in court yesterday, Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan adjourned the matter until February 28 when told that Ryanair wished to reply to Goss's claims.
John Goss, in an affidavit, said he had been a Ryanair employee since 1986 and claimed his terms and conditions of employment had been amended a number of times and in a manner that was unclear.
He was now unsure as to precisely what his terms and conditions were.
Ryanair had declined to recognise trade unions on the basis of a policy to deal directly with their employees which he found unsatisfactory. He joined the Irish Airline Pilots' Association (IALPA), a branch of the Impact union, which he instructed to seek negotiations on a number of matters of concern.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary declined to enter into such negotiations and IMPACT had referred the dispute to the Labour Relations Commission.
Goss alleged that on November 4 2004 he and other Dublin pilots were asked by Ryanair to attend a meeting at which they were threatened that if the trade union activities did not cease they would be excluded from any pay increase, excluded from Ryanair's share option scheme and from promotion, and that insurance for loss of pilot's licence would be cancelled.
In December Ryanair attempted to subject him to a disciplinary procedure which, he said, had failed to adhere to the principles of fair procedures.
He believed Ryanair was attempting to make him a scapegoat to illustrate to other employees the consequences of making a complaint to the rights commissioner and attempting to compel Ryanair to engage in collective bargaining.
He feared the company would use the proceedings to terminate his employment and discourage other pilots' support for the IMPACT claim.
John Maddock