It is being suggested that " the union" has in some way led Ryanair pilots up the garden path. I think it is worth giving the other side of the story and while I do not have full information a little background might be helpful. Over the past couple of years a number of successful court cases were brought by IALPA and its parent union IMPACT (yes, that joke has been made already, thank you) on behalf of individual Ryanair pilots. For the most part these achieved satisfactory results. The issue to which reference is being made in this thread seems to be the case which was brought under the Industrial Relations Act as amended in 2004. This new legislation allowed the Labour Court to make a ruling in disputes which arose in companies which refused to recognise unions and where the Court was satisfied on the basis of testimony and evidence provided by both sides that the company did not provide any real, as opposed to pretended, internal means of dispute resolution. Such a case was brought on behalf of a number of very courageous Ryanair pilots and the Labour Court found in their favour. The intent of the legislation was that such a finding would be legally enforceable. Ryanair appealed this finding to the High Court but the union won again. Ryanair then appealed the High Court finding to the Supreme Court and the result of that was that the Supreme Court found that the Legislation did not comply with the constitution in that in infringed the rights of employers. In oher words, Ryanair won. Costs were awarded against the union. The only option for further legal action was to start again at the beginning. The legal advice was that the result would be the same, that the union would be liable for costs again and, given that the first round cost the union a seven figure sum, that the best course of action would be to seek to have the legislation changed so that it would be more watertight. This is the new legislation to which reference has been made in another thread by CaptKremin. As has been mentioned by another poster, it is unrealistic to expect a union to win every battle. In this case, the union put in enormous efoort over several years and incurred enormous expence on behalf of Ryanair pilots. They won every round except, sadly, the last one. Many Ryanair pilots made enormous sacrifices during this action and their efforts were unsuccessful. However, even though that battle was lost, their are some who feel that this cause is still worth fighting for. I can understand how some of the posters here feel disappointed but it is grossly incorrect to suggest that the union somehow sought to let down the pilots in Ryanair. What is most disappointing is to see the enormous lengths some people are prepared to go to to persuade their colleagues that their position is hopelss and that any effort to organise and protect themselves is doomed. Whose agenda do you think they are working to?