Starting when? This winter or next summer?

Ryanair strikes
 

Irish (based) pilots today. But only to/ from UK ???

Cabin crew from bases in Spain, Belgium, Italy tomorrow and Thursday I believe.

MOL threatened lay-offs and reported a major dip in profitability yesterday, apparently.


How is the strike panning out so far today ?

I see FR have published the actual gross salary levels these workers earn right now. To be honest their salaries are quite healthy. I can see this ending very badly for the striking employees. Stupidity and hardliner union officials will cost employees their livelihood. Utterly reckless stuff. Some employees don't see how fortune they are but I guess greed takes over.

Maybe it is about other issues than salary. To an employee salary is not top of the list in terms of importance, how they are treated is.

mik3bravo, what smells and sounds like poo usually is. The figures thrown are probably what a RYR Lifer (senior trainer/examiner) might be earning on a legacy contract if he/she worked every hour God sent probably further adjusted for maximum overtime/day off payments. Don't fall for it. Anyway, it's not about money but lifestyle. Ryanair pilots want the same money for better lifestyle, not more money per se!

Like any job in any industry. If you fancy better work live balance or pay then uproot and switch employer. You are not a tree, move!
Honestly, I don't get the entitlement attitudes of some employees. Take control of your personal situation and move employer if you're that unhappy. It's all very millenniumesque in mindset.

It's time to put Ryanair back on my list of organisations that I boycott. I want to travel with an organisation that values it's staff and customers in equal measure

The greatest asset to a company are staff who feel valued, and not just in cash terms. Whom the company recognises as assets, not costs.
And many employees find it difficult to move, since they have partners who also have careers, and they and their families are part of the communities in which they live.

I forgot to mention cabin crew based in Portugal.

Local media both in Catalonia and in Spain have been giving the strike a lot of coverage.

Catalan reports this morning spoke of last minute (sic) cancellations of flights to the Balearic Islands (which Ryanair had been ordered to maintain fully operational under Spanish labour laws which they had apparently agreed to do earlier) from both El Prat and Girona I seem to remember.

Elsewhere reports of last minute cancellations of one or more flights to Italy.

The disastrous record of Vueling at El Prat in the last 10 days [at least?] also got lots of air time

From a travelling public point of view I don't have any sympathy for the strikers. Radio interviews with Union Spokespersons that I've heard on RTE make then sound like an unprofessional bunch of whingers.

Why do you say that Sober Lark?

Many of us travelling and disrupted public are of the opinion that these striking pilots are well paid. Can you please post a copy of a payslip or a P60 (end of year certificate) showing this is not the case?

Don't Ryanair cut the UK & Eire capacity by 20% every winter anyway?

Well said, Sober Lark.

Most pilots ending up at ATPL levels, have pursued flying as a career which is often born from having years of passion to fly. So I certainly do not buy it when I hear union representatives sexing up their agenda to create an illusion of widespread discontent amongst the flight crews.

FR offer a pilot B737 type jet time and good as experience plus healthy salary levels too. Some go on to other airlines where they can get into the longhaul space flying heavies.

I think the unions in particular and their representatives need be extremely careful in how they push this because ultimately they are fighting a lost battle that has now actually placed pilots job security at definite risk right now. There will be redundancies and personal endebtiness defaulting on pilot tuition loans, mortgages, car loans and so on.

Plus the public opinion towards their cause is not on the unions side or the couple of pilots pushing for more love and touchie feelie workplace culture.

Some people are blind to seeing just how good they actually have it but there again, herd mentality and peer pressure can be cancerous.

There is always a batch of rookies eager to get into that right seat and with no interest in union activation, these rookies just want time on type and good pay and satisfying their passion for flight. Unions totally do not get that.

Lifestyle? Family life?
Have the employees taken up a contract of employment in full knowledge of the pros and cons? Assuming we are dealing with individuals who understand the concept of personal responsibility, then how is it now the employers responsibility for the employees acknowledgement.

There will be major redundancies in this stand-off, there will be no winners.

Move employer if you're that unhappy. It's really that simple.

Mik3bravo

You support all that is going wrong with capitalism at the moment. Ryanair makes about 1.4m euro annually in profits, no doubt top management make millions. Why should they not look after their employees? It is your type of thinking that has got many people thinking that capitalism is rotten and you can see the rise in that thinking in elements of the Labour party now. Workers in the UKhave not seen a rise in their real pay for 10 years now, that is not the story with top management who have filled their boots, usually at the expense of the ordinary worker. Ryanair has treated their staff like dirt for years, now they are getting back what they deserve as a company. It is time that profits and good working conditions were shared a bit more equally around all employees. Ryanair are just a bully of a company, eventually employees will tire of that treatment and stand up for themselves. Good for them. Decency goes a long way, some day you might be glad of someone showing you some.

Sober Lark
There are plenty of forums where you can read how badly Ryanair has treated it's Staff, it's not only about pay to the average outsider (that works for an Airline) but more about recognition and respect. Sadly its been missing for many years.
Ryanair are good at spinning. They will tell you Pilots only work an average of 23 hours a week - shock horror you'll say. That's 23 flight hours so doesn't include the time to report for duty, the turn round time and to go off duty so more like 55 hours a week.
They will tell you that they stop flying every Christmas day so their Staff can be at home. They won't tell you the main reason is their Cabin Crew are paid ****e so cannot afford a car and guess what the bus services don't run on Christmas day.

I work about 50+ hours a week too, any overtime unpaid. Thats expected at a certain salary level and not anywhere near a pilots salary. A lot of people do. I also often work Christmas, I've no choice in that, but it rotates year on year. Don't get me wrong, I know Ryanair are not perfect by any stretch, I know that from friends who work for them, but the narrative portrayed by unions is always ott. Same for Irish teachers as one example, the train drivers, the bus drivers, the Luas drivers.

The sympathy from the general public has waned massively in recent years because people are sick of listening to it and being inconvenienced by unions looking for more and more....when comparitively their members are not doing too bad at all

So what you are saying is that Ryanair are paying the people less than 10 years ago in UK................. so what was Ryanair paying then.

As for claiming no real pay rise..................... Even Minimumwage has gone up by 42% V Inflation by 32%.

All I can say is that I was glad to be in a strong union with some of the governor's I worked for. As for one two O'Leary I I would probably have lasted five minutes at the most. I would hazard a guess that some on hear who blame everything on unions probably all so-called Thatcher's children. As for working unpaid overtime (unless you are a manager) you realise you are doing charity work for your employer.

FR reaping what they’ve sown. Good luck to the DUB crews affected by today’s threat in finding jobs with more progressive airlines soon.

I'm with Ryanair on this stance. No passengers want to see a service end up being so unionised like in France where your flight might be running if someone isn't on strike, where it might get off the ground if ATC isn't on strike, where you might make the flight if the trains are not on strike...

Ryanair only recognised unions 7 months ago so give them a chance. In passing I note much of Forsa's own website is still 'under construction' - that's really leading by example.

Unfortunately it's not interesting to watch how Unions destroy their own.

There are plenty of other industries where leading companies push for growth, profits, stock market favourable sentiment and stock value, and shareholder& investor returns, and many have these tensions between employees and the company.

This is standard in many industries and just because Ryanair is so high profile doesn't mean they are any worse or better than other companies, It just means they are more so in the public eye.

Ryanair are a massive Irish Inc. success story who have created '000 of jobs and spin--off employment to the real economy both in Ireland and the UK and across other European regions.

Employees wilfully and in full knowledge and complete transparency accepted job offers from Ryanair under employment contract T&C's which are transparent.

Now it seems some employees want to move the goal posts and see they can alter their T&C's without realising for every action, there will be an equal and opposite reaction.

The self entitlement attitudes of some employees is tedious and unacceptable in a modern buoyant economy. These employees are paid well for an honest days work, they have benefits too. But now it seems they want to bite the hand that feeds them.
Moronic attitudes and reckless clueless union officials will destroy economic prosperity of the individuals they allegedly represent.

Unions attempting to take on a massively successful powerhouse is frankly dumb ass granstanding. The exchequer returns will ultimately take a hit due to lost tourism and reduced travelling passenger numbers. Ultimately, employees are putting their own job security at significantly high risk now.

None of these clowns see the macro impacts - all in it for themsrlves and fcuk the rest of society and the European travelling citizens.

Inkjet, reasonable reply thank you. My guess is that Ryanair will invest in workers and like Delta they will become one of the least unionised airlines in the world. But at present I feel a Union that can't even build their own web site in 6 months is demanding too much from a company that only recognised unions 7 months ago.

This was also 100% true of sending we'ans up chimneys.

Well over many years I've had cancellations with Lufthansa, I have never been left alone, always re-routed even on different alliances etc. If necessary good quality hotel plus meal and vouchers and transfers, and friendly ground staff too.

Compared to a low cost airline ticket price, I'd say you paid a more expensive ticket price with Luftansa for the chance one day you need a hotel bed and hot meal.

You are not comparing like with like.

People buy a cheap low cost airline ticket for £19 or something ridiculously cheap and then expect Emirates and Marriot hotel services when it goes wrong.

People need to wake up. You know what you're getting into when you buy a low cost ticket. Personally I would never use any low cost airline unless as last resort. I certainly have never and will never use any of them for holiday travels especially if you are travelling with children, yet there are people out there who do it and know full well the chances they take but are thrilled to book their Sun holiday family flights for as cheap as chips but go nuts when it goes wrong.

You get what you pay for and if you want better services then pay for it with other carriers.

Honestly I can't get my head around why people can't figure out these basics at all!

Likes of Ryanair are ok if you are travelling alone or with a partner, got no children or toddlers travelling, and cabin bag luggage only. Beyond that, it's Russian Roulette I'm afraid and people need to understand that.

As for the strikers - they've got an ok job, they want more, more isn't available. So the choice is simple transactional. You want more then go elsewhere to an employer who provides more but stop screwing up the European holiday makers - It's quite disgusting self centered behaviour by these striking workers and their militant unions.

As I understand it, they don't want more money. They just want to be treated as partners in the business, as human beings, rather than as cogs in a machine.

I get that but it ain't going to happen. They need to get over it and move on. Find alternative employment elsewhere where they feel more valued or loved or whatever soft touchie feelie bs these people want to help them feel actualized.