Ryanair is challenged by strikes in the UK and Spain, caught in failed mediation rounds in Ireland, left by the COO who was hired specifically to help with the transition to an unionized company and suing their own pilots for their decisions as union representatives. In thisย context, shareholders will be evaluating Ryanairโs actual progress on improving labor relations. Two years after the company pledged to โreward and interactโ with its pilots and cabin crew, the labor unrest has not yet settled. Despite agreements signed with several unions โ after protracted negotiations โ Ryanair seems to be lacking a clear long-term strategy on how to create a genuine culture of social dialogue with its employees.
โUnionisation was not imposed on the airline โ it was managementโs choice,โ says ECA Secretary General Philip von Schรถppenthau. โIt was also a choice to set an ambitious target to become a socially responsible employer. But when Ryanair pledged this, they raised the expectations of their own employees. And today โ two years later โ from their perspective, Ryanair has failed to deliver. The company is still far, far away from anything like stable labor relations across its network and from lasting industrial peace.โ
Ryanair seems to be lacking a clear long-term strategy on how to create a genuine culture of social dialogue with its employees
European pilots are concerned that Ryanair may be reverting to its old โhabitsโ. 10 Irish union representatives โ all Ryanair pilots โ are being sued in Court for alleged damages. At the same time, Ryanair is resorting to base closures and potential job cuts every time a strike is announced. And Buzz, Ryanairโs new subsidiary in Poland, is being set up as an airline designed to be union-free, by using a large majority of supposedly self-employed pilots and cabin crew, hired through a broker agency, Warsaw Aviation.
โ93% of all self-employment in European aviation is actually fake, according to aย recent study by the European Commission,โ says ECA Vice-President Otjan de Bruijn. โIt is quite a risky business decision that โ in times of intense scrutiny of self-employment โ you would set up an entire company relying on allegedly self-employed workers. What are the chances that in the medium-term it would not be challenged by authorities at national and EU level? Just look at the recentย Irish government decisionย to crack-down on bogus self-employment in Ireland โ and Poland wonโt stay a safe haven for such practices.โ
Poland wonโt stay a safe haven for bogus self-employment
Pilots are also worried that a โfear-cultureโ at Ryanair may be making a comeback.
โWe are receiving increasing reports that pilot union representatives feel that the pre-2017 anti-union management approach and fear-culture are coming back,โ continues Otjan de Bruijn. โAnd suing union representatives in Court for wanting to exercise their basic right to strike just reinforces this perception. But when union representatives start feeling intimidated and fear for their continued employment, then this is a clear indicator as to where management-employee relations seem to be heading for.โ
โIt is a gross miscalculation that industrial unrest will simply settle down on its own and without a true transformation across the entire network,โ says Secretary-General Philip von Schรถppenthau. โWith its confrontational approach and the base closures that spread fear among its employees, Ryanair is undermining itself as an attractive employer. For an airline with significant growth plans, this is a particularly risky strategy.โ
WHAT TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS ARTICLE:
- Ryanair is challenged by strikes in the UK and Spain, caught in failed mediation rounds in Ireland, left by the COO who was hired specifically to help with the transition to an unionized company and suing their own pilots for their decisions as union representatives.
- And Buzz, Ryanair's new subsidiary in Poland, is being set up as an airline designed to be union-free, by using a large majority of supposedly self-employed pilots and cabin crew, hired through a broker agency, Warsaw Aviation.
- Despite agreements signed with several unions โ after protracted negotiations โ Ryanair seems to be lacking a clear long-term strategy on how to create a genuine culture of social dialogue with its employees.