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Ryanair boss says he may force pilots to change holiday plans Ryanair chief claims he can force pilots to give up a week of leave
(about 2 hours later)
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has escalated the airline’s dispute with pilots, saying they do not have a “difficult job” and claiming he can force them to give up a week of leave. The Ryanair chief executive, Michael O’Leary, has escalated the airline’s dispute with pilots, saying they do not have a “difficult job” and claiming he can force them to give up a week of leave.
O’Leary is scrambling to prevent more disruption to the no-frills airline’s schedule after last week cancelling up to 50 flights a day due to a rota “mess-up” that left it short of pilots. O’Leary is scrambling to prevent more disruption to Ryanair’s schedule after cancelling up to 50 flights a day due to a rota “mess-up” that left it short of pilots.
Speaking at Ryanair’s AGM in Dublin on Thursday, the famously outspoken airline chief admitted that further cancellations could follow but refused to back down in a dispute with pilots. Speaking at the airline’s AGM in Dublin on Thursday, he refused to appease pilots threatening industrial action, despite confirming that more cancellations could follow if they did not forgo time off.
A group of pilots on Wednesday turned down an offer of up to £12,000 to keep flying during their scheduled leave, many of them putting their names to a letter demanding improved employment terms instead. “I don’t even know how there would be industrial action in Ryanair,” O’Leary said. “There isn’t a union.”
The airline had previously said that it might have to scrap even more flights if they did not agree and O’Leary admitted at the AGM that cancellations could now run into November, beyond Ryanair’s initial prediction of 31 October. He said the airline had “some goodies” to discuss with pilots, but warned: “If pilots misbehave, that will be the end of the goodies.”
But he appeared unwilling to give any ground in his stand-off with pilots, instead threatening to cancel their time off and questioning the extent of their talents. On Wednesday, a group of pilots turned down an offer of up to £12,000 to keep flying during their scheduled leave, many of them putting their names to a letter demanding improved employment terms instead.
Ryanair has said the cancellations could run into November. The airline said its airport bases in Dublin, Berlin and Frankfurt are understaffed and it needed to hire 125 new pilots.
But O’Leary appeared unwilling to give any ground in the standoff, instead threatening to cancel pilots’ time off and questioning the extent of their talents.
He said any that were due to take a four-week break in the next few months could be forced under the terms of their contract to delay one of those weeks until January.He said any that were due to take a four-week break in the next few months could be forced under the terms of their contract to delay one of those weeks until January.
He added: “Once you are trained and skilled at doing it ... I would challenge any pilot to explain how this is a difficult job or how it is they are overworked or how anybody who by law can’t fly more than 18 hours a week could possibly be suffering from fatigue.” O’Leary accused some pilots of being “precious about themselves” and “full of their own self-importance”.
A letter from pilots to Ryanair, revealed in the Guardian on Wednesday, saw signatories from bases across Europe turn down the airline’s offer of a tax-free cash bonus and warn they are prepared to “work to rule”. “Once you are trained and skilled at doing it … I would challenge any pilot to explain how this is a difficult job or how it is they are overworked, or how anybody who by law can’t fly more than 18 hours a week could possibly be suffering from fatigue,” he said.
If pilots make good on the threat, they will refuse do anything outside their contractual obligations, such as turning up early or answering phone calls on days off. A letter from pilots to Ryanair had signatories from bases across Europe turning down the airline’s offer of a tax-free cash bonus and warning that they are prepared to “work to rule”.
If pilots make good on the threat, they will refuse to do anything outside their contractual obligations, such as turning up early to avoid delays or answering phone calls on days off.
O’Leary said: “There isn’t a bad relationship between Ryanair and our pilots. We asked on Monday for volunteers to work days off ... We have had huge cooperation and support from pilots.”
Referring to pilots’ pay, he said: “Maybe we have got it a bit on the low side.”
The outspoken chief executive repeated apologies to about 315,000 passengers and admitted the airline had made a “major boo boo”.
But his contrition did not appear to have appeased some investors, who voted against the company’s remuneration report and the re-election of board members.
While nearly 89% of the votes cast were in favour of its pay deal for directors, the US pension funds Calstrs and Calpers voted against, while Calstrs also voted against the re-election of nearly the entire board, including O’Leary.
Their fellow shareholder NN Investment Partners said in a recent report that it had “growing concern about how the airline pays its staff and interacts with unions”.