Irish based Ryanair pilots are to strike on December 20th.
Directly employed pilots - mostly captains - will withdraw their labour for 24 hours in a row over collective barganining and neotiating rights.
The pilots backed industrial action by a margin of 94 per cent in secret ballots conducted over the past week.
The Irish Airline Pilots Association has warned further strike days will take place if an agreement is not reached.
IMPACT official Ashley Connolly said Ryanair was the only Irish-based airline that refuses to recognise independent pilot representatives. “This dispute is solely about winning independent representation for pilots in the company. Management’s failed negotiating model has let down shareholders and tens of thousands of passengers, whose flights were cancelled this year because company-controlled industrial relations proved incapable of recruiting and retaining enough pilots.
“The failed policy threatens to further disappoint shareholders and passengers, and further damage the airline’s reputation, because experienced pilots continue to leave the airline in droves. This dispute is about securing a safe space for negotiations, with independent representation that pilots can have confidence in,” she said.
