This is a massive problem.
The two protagonists in Ryanair IALPA/BALPA couldn't even coordinate a recognition campaign about 3yrs ago. IALPA was very confident of numbers & wanted it, and wanted it NOW, but the encumbent head honcho in BALPA refused to go for recognition as there was no full time BALPA employee dedicated to Ryanair (or some such bullsh1t) & the best they were prepared to offer to secure a suitably qualified & motivated candidate was a fixed period contract
The long and the short of it is that due to this ineffectual dithering the impetus was lost, and that level of momentum & union membership hasn't and probably won't, be seen again.
As Beernice alluded to, recognition may have opened up a bigger can of worms than it solved, as Ryanair would have furiously transfered bods/contracts to other countries, but , it "might" have worked.
This problem is probably not insurmountable, but it will be very difficult indeed to invent a union that can operate within the local laws and answer to the needs of 10 or 20 different countries.
Maybe this is how I could make my fortune in life
, now is definitely the moment, although it may already be too late , it certainly is not going to get any simpler in the future.
As in all aspects of commercial aviation, be it questionable passenger treatment, or sharp employment practices, where Ryanair lead & Easy closely follow (although I think Easy might have nudged ahead here with their recent Cadet/PARC schemes) the rest are following as sure as night follows day. Lets see too if Aer Lingus try and dig themselves out of the mire by moving stuff around, this will be a good indication of whether the "Astreus adventure" was a one off, or the trojan horse.