REVEALED: Ryanair employee saga rumbles on

Further details have emerged from the ongoing Ryanair saga, which saw the cancellation of more than 20,000 flights affecting over 700,000 customers as well a stand-off between pilots and company executives.

The budget airlines’ largest pilot base at London Stansted have rejected a ‘peace offering’ from the company. In addition, Skift reports that Ryaniar required its pilots to pay for their own hotels when they could not return to their home base due to flight schedules – issues which make a peaceful negotiation less likely.

Furthermore, the threat of industrial action is looming. Two days after pilots at Stansted rejected the company’s offering, the European Employee Representative Council, which is seeking to organise collective bargaining across the company, outlined a proposal demanding salaries be doubled and extended across the airline’s European bases - to £150,000 for captains from the current £64,000.  

According to a letter seen by Bloomberg, the adhoc pilot group is set to the detail its pay demands to other aviation firms. The demands, which would be retroactive to Sept. 1, include requiring Ryanair to cover the cost of uniforms, training, health care, on-board drinks and snacks, and ground transport and accommodation while working from an alternative base. The plan also calls for permanent contracts for pilots currently working as contractors and for shares in the company, dependent on seniority.  The unofficial group pledged to stage strikes if a deal can’t be reached.