Ryanair’s bid to block a pre-bank holiday strike by UK pilots rather than return to talks means a walkout is more certain, their union has warned.
The Irish no-frills carrier is seeking a High Court injunction on Wednesday to stop strike action by its pilots in the UK, which is due to take place on Thursday and Friday, with a second round of walkouts on September 2-4.
Meanwhile, Ryanair is mounting a separate legal fight in Dublin in an effort to prevent a union representing its Irish-based pilots going ahead with a 48-hour strike from midnight on Thursday.
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The airline claims that the dates of the industrial action by Forsa were chosen to cause maximum disruption and coincide with strike action being taken on the same dates by its UK-based pilots.
The British Airline Pilots Association said that because Ryanair has wasted time with “unnecessary” court action, its chance to resolve the UK dispute has been lost.
Balpa said it invited the airline for talks this week but the airline refused.
Instead Ryanair is relying on “legal technicalities” to try to persuade the High Court to block the strike, the union claimed
Balpa general secretary Brian Strutton said: “Ryanair pilots in the UK have a serious dispute with their company which will not be resolved by raising legal technicalities in the High Court.
“Their attempt to block lawful strike action is just another demonstration of the bullying tactics the airline appears to favour.
“It means all the time that could have been used to try to find a resolution will now be spent preparing for the court action.
“It’s also worrying to see Ryanair continue to sell tickets for strike days – are they prepared to offer compensation to passengers if they are affected? I think they should tell passengers exactly where they stand.”
A Ryanair spokesperson said: “Balpa, who represent a small number of highly paid UK pilots, should not be disrupting the return holiday flights of UK families later this week when Ryanair captains already earn £180,000 p.a and are now seeking unjustified pay increases of between 65% to 121%.”
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