A snippet of commentary from the judgement in the case regarding Warwick Brady:
Mr. Brady said he was very surprised at the sort of attitude of the people who signalled a preference to go back to Dublin once offered. I wondered at his surprise in the light of the sneering disregard of the tone of the letter of 30th June 2004 addressed to the pilots seen, in my opinion, wholly inappropriate to the discourse of industrial relations [T.2 p.109/110]. It indeed might have a resonance to the terms of inquiry of the police officers in the questioning in the play Assinamali.
Hmm... does that not remind you of
"sneering" and
"disregard" that is so inherent in Leo's posts? Perhaps it is a quality required of Ryanair management wannabes. Maybe there'll be a position for a Swiss national based in Germany some time in the near future.
This bit in reference to the above mentioned
letter:
The context in which the tension between the Plaintiff and the captains/pilots (in Dublin) or who may have wished to be transferred to Dublin to fly the 737-800s was that the only terms which Ryanair would tolerate were their own (not such as might have been consensually agreed between the company and the individual pilots). These dictated or non-negotiable terms were set out in the letter dated 12th November 2004 addressed to the pilots:-
"Dear ...
We are pleased to offer you a place on a conversion training course for a Boeing 737-800. This offer is conditional on your understanding and acceptance of the following conditions:
1. A position on the B737-800 based in Dublin will only be offered after you have successfully completed the conversion training programme and the relevant regulatory authority has endorsed your pilot's licence. The cost of this training programme is £10,000 (€15,000) and payment of these training costs is required prior to commencement of training. Since your gross total remuneration from Ryanair is over [ ] (putting you in the top two percent earners in Ireland) this training cost in modest in the context of your substantial income.
3. However Ryanair proposes to defer payment of training costs for a period of five years from commencement of conversion training. Payment will become due immediately if either of the following two conditions materialises before the end of the five year period;
(a) You leave Ryanair's employment within five years of commencement of your conversion training then you will be liable to repay the full training costs, which amount to Stg£10,000 (€15,000). Repayment will not apply to pilots who reach normal retirement during the five year period.
(b) It has been Ryanair's policy - for so long as our people deal directly with the company - that pay will be better, pay increases higher, and training costs shall be met by the company. We wish to remind you that should this policy be altered and Ryanair be compelled to engage in collective bargaining with any pilot association or trade union within five years of commencement of your conversion training, then you will be liable to repay the full training costs. Naturally this does not and will not affect your right to freely join any trade union or association of your choice.
4. Ryanair will write off this debt in full at the end of this five year period provided that neither of the events specified at 3(a) and 3(b) have materialised.
5. If you decline this offer of conversion, then you will continue to operate on the B737-200 fleet. However, it is envisaged that the 200 fleet will be phased out over the next number of years, and if there is no suitable alternative work available at that time such as 737-800 series flying at one of our other bases then you will be given notice of redundancy.
6. This offer is available for acceptance by you for a seven day period. The offer automatically lapses at 17:30 on 19th November 2004. You may confirm your acceptance of this offer, by signing this document and returning the original by hand to the undersigned before 17:30 on Friday, 19th November next.
Finally, congratulations on your selection for conversion training and we look forward to working with you.
David O'Brien
Director of Operations."
In short the pilots not only were given a Hobson's choice, but in respect of condition 3(b) a pilot through no act or default on his part could suffer the loss of €15,000. The letter is evidence as to its being written and its contents but not necessarily the veracity of the contents and in particular I had no evidence as to whether the reference to the gross total of remuneration referred to in paragraph 2 is comparable to a base information. It may be that in certain categories the gross total of remuneration for certain Ryanair pilots may exceed that in other airlines, I am not aware of the fact either way but even if it does, evidence as to its true worth as to whether sums have to be allowed for meals, uniforms, periodic in-service training, meals away from home allowances, et cetera. However, it is not an issue that requires determination in this case.
...However, it seems both irrational and unjust that the actions of third parties when a trained pilot could not control their actions should in effect be penalised by an alteration by Ryanair engaging at a future date in collective bargaining "with any pilot association or trade union."
In my judgment this is a most onerous condition and bears all the hallmarks of oppression.