In an unprecedented step, Ryanair this morning announced it would recognise pilot unions in a bid to halt upcoming strike action
Chief executive Michael O’Leary’s hardline stance on trade unions is one of the factors that contributed to the airline becoming Europe’s largest low-cost carrier.
“Recognising unions will be a significant change for Ryanair, but we have delivered radical change before,” O’Leary said in a statement.
“We hope and expect that these structures can and will be agreed with our pilots early in the New Year.”
The company said that its next step will be to urge pilots to cancel the threatened period of strike action next week, so that customers “can look forward to travelling home for Christmas without the threat or worry of pilot strikes hanging over them.”
If, however, the strikes go ahead, they will be the first in the company’s history. All of this comes at the end of a troubled year for Ryanair, and this mild thaw in the increasingly frosty relations between management and pilots appears to be a step in the right direction.
