”Unnecessary”: Ryanair pilots to go on strike next week
Listen up, Ryanair fliers.
Ialpa pilot union members who work for Ryanair are planning to strike for 24 hours next Thursday, 12th July.
#Ryanair pilots serve notice of industrial action https://t.co/g7C7afO5uC pic.twitter.com/ckNPyBtHdh
— Fórsa Trade Union (@forsa_union_ie) July 3, 2018
The strike will begin at 1am on the 12th and continue until 1am the next day.
Ryanair has responded to this announcement by saying that they are ''disappointed'' in this ''unnecessary'' course of action yet they believes that the majority of Ryanair passengers will be unaffected by this.
Ryanair Irish Customer Notice: pic.twitter.com/t0gyF4OOTC
— Ryanair (@Ryanair) July 3, 2018
July is a busy summer month for airlines, with huge numbers headed off to sunnier climates for their holidays.
Understandably, many people who have booked with Ryanair are panicking about the consequences that this may have on their travel plans.
People are voicing their concerns on Twitter, with one user saying, ''you're basically giving me two days or 48 hours to arrange alternative flights.''
Hey @Ryanair and @forsa_union_ie if you strike next Thursday as planned I will miss my dad's retirement party. Don't be that guy!!!!!!!!!
I've had these flights booked for months. Seriously, please DON'T BE THAT GUY! #Ryanair @IrishTimes— Danielle Stephens (@DaniS1006) July 3, 2018
After negotiations with the airline broke down, the Ialpa Union said that a landslide 99% of their members had supported the industrial action in a ballot.
The dispute is over management’s approach to the transferring of pilots between it's African and European bases.
@IALPA @forsa_union_ie Statement on Ryanair members strike ballot. @IFALPA @eu_cockpit pic.twitter.com/A2P8kqiANt
— IALPA (@IALPA) July 3, 2018
The Irish Airline Pilots’ Association has also released a statement giving notice of the strike.
It states that, ''our member pilots directly employed by Ryanair complain that there is no transparent system for the determination of important matters including voluntary/involuntary base transfer/allocation, command upgrade, allocation of annual leave and promotion.''
With the strike action set to take place next week, let's hope that this mess gets sorted before then.
Otherwise, there's going to be a lot of unhappy Ryanair customers.
