Ryanair reached a deal with Irish pilots’ union Forsa on Thursday to end a series of one-day strikes by flight crew. But the airline remains in dispute with pilot and cabin crew unions elsewhere in Europe.
Both Forsa and Ryanair declined to reveal details of their agreement pending a ballot on the deal by Irish pilots. However, union officials said they would recommend acceptance.
Ryanair said it would put the proposals to a meeting of its board once the pilots have voted.
The agreement followed 22-hours of talks and came after Irish pilots staged five one-day strikes, the most recent on August 10 when pilots in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden also walked out forcing Ryanair to cancel 400 flights.
Pilots’ union representatives from across Europe met in Frankfurt on Monday to discuss further action and agreed a date for a fresh one-day strike, with those present described as “still in strike mode”.
Unions outside Ireland continued to demand improved pay and conditions as well as employment under national, not Irish law.
Joost van Doesburg of the Dutch VNV union said: “We believe there has been no culture change yet at Ryanair.
“They are not open for good discussions regarding our demands. We believe there will be new strikes.”
The Irish union described the deal to settle its dispute as “tentative”, saying it referred to issues of “seniority” and promotion among pilots, while negotiations on annual-leave entitlement continue.
Unions representing pilots outside Ireland are seeking pay rises and employment under national laws, not Irish labour law – neither of which demands were raised by Forsa.
Van Doesburg said: “We have different priorities. We don’t see much in this agreement for us to build on.”
He added: “A national Irish seniority list would be quite useless -to us]. [But] a master seniority list for all Ryanair pilots in Europe would be a positive step.”
Ryanair employs about 350 pilots in Ireland, of whom about one in three are members of the union. The airline employs 4,000 pilots across Europe.
The carrier agreed in December to recognise trade unions for the first time in its history after a failure to adequately roster pilots led to the cancellation of 2,000 flights.
But the agreement with Forsa would represent the first labour deal Ryanair has negotiated.
The airline was also hit by two days of strikes by cabin crew in Spain, Portugal and Belgium in July, and Ryanair cabin crew in 21 countries have published a charter of demands.
Cabin crew unions wrote to Ryanair shareholders last week saying: “We don’t believe the current management has the necessary trust from employees.”