Strike action could begin as early as Tuesday.
Ryanair has extended an invite to public service trade union FÓRSA and the pilots who confirmed strike action last week in a neutral venue in hopes to halt planned industrial action this week.
The budget airline took to Twitter on both last Thursday and Friday afternoon to plead with the union not to allow strikes to go ahead, claiming that the industrial action was only supported by 27% of Ryanair’s pilots, ensuring no mandate.
They again took to Twitter on Monday afternoon to throw down the gauntlet and invite members of both the Iriah AirLine Pilots Association (IALPA) and FÓRSA to meet with them in a neutral venue.
According to the statement, this is Ryanair’s 21st attempt at meeting with the pilots to ease tension. The previous attempts had been scheduled to locate in Ryanair’s Airside offices.
Ryanair offers to meet its pilots (and FORSA) at neutral venue on Tues or Wed to avoid unnecessary pilot strike on Thurs (see attached). pic.twitter.com/G0J0yTssbf
— Ryanair (@Ryanair) July 9, 2018
The statement was posted alongside a letter written by Aer Lingus pilot Evan Cullen, who wrote that members of the IALPA were contemplating a series of one or two days of strike action during the months of July and August.
Cullen went on to say, “The earliest date we could be picketing the Airport is 10 July 2018, however, this date is not yet finalised.”
This comes after almost 100 of the airline’s Dublin-based pilots voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action.
It is believed that the pilots, who are directly employed by the airline, voted for strike action following a dispute over management’s approach to transferring pilots between its European and African bases.
Strike action, at time of writing, is set to commence for a period of 24 hours this week, beginning at 01:00 on Thursday 12 July.
It was also announced last week that cabin crews in Portugal, Italy, Spain and Belgium will also strike in solidarity with their colleagues.
It’s understood that they will stage a 24-hour strike on 25 July and a 24-hour strike in Portugal, Spain and Belgium on 26 July.
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