Ryanair pilots have announced they are planning a fresh two-day walkout in August ahead of one of the busiest weekends of the year.
Thousands of air passengers travelling between the UK and Ireland could be facing travel misery after it was confirmed there would be strikes on August 22 and August 23 – the beginning of Bank Holiday.
Ryanair pilots working in Ireland, who are members of the IALPA, served notice on the company on Wednesday that strikes would go ahead.
The move comes after 94 per cent of directly-employed Ryanair pilots voted to back industrial action in a long-running dispute over pay, working conditions and related issues.
The airline said it cannot concede to pilot's "grossly unreasonable demands."
A statement from IALPA read: “The union said that the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association (IALPA) had submitted a 30-page proposal to Ryanair management in March of this year, which sought pay levels and structures it says are in line with sector norms.
“The IALPA claim also included proposals on pensions, working conditions and related matters.”
“Fórsa national secretary Angela Kirk said Ryanair pilots told her they’d been forced into industrial action by the company’s failure to offer any significant response to their proposals over a four-month period.
“She said she regretted any disruption that might flow from management’s unwillingness or inability to negotiate a fair and transparent pay package, even at this late hour.”
Ryanair has been approached by the Standard for a comment.
The strike could disrupt the plans of thousands of travellers looking to fly over the busy bank holiday, the last one of the year.
The latest Ryanair walkout comes after British pilots announced a series of walkouts throughout September.
Ryanair’s Chief People Officer Eddie Wilson said: “We have done everything in our power to avoid disruption to our flights and our customers’ holidays. However, no company can concede to grossly unreasonable demands from its highest paid workers for a further pay increase of over 100% (when they already agreed and received a 20% pay increase earlier this year) at a time when the airline industry is in crisis.
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"Ryanair pilots who are already among the best paid workers in Ireland are now threatening to disrupt the holiday travel plans of thousands of customers over the coming weeks as they demand that their pay be increased from €172,000 p.a. to over €347,000 p.a. that would see them earn more than the President of Ireland or our Taoiseach, even as Norwegian makes all of its Dublin pilots redundant.
"We remain willing to engage in Mediation with our pilots and Fórsa but call on them to avoid disrupting our customers’ travel plans in pursuit of what are clearly unrealistic and unimplementable pay proposals.”
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