Ryanair – what about the Pilots?

The newspapers have been filled with stories about Ryanair’s cancellation of over 2,000 flights affecting over 400,000 travellers. And, quite rightly, the emphasis of these stories is on the poor people who have had their flights cancelled or those who are stranded in their holiday destinations and are struggling to arrange flights home.

A Which? spokesman commented that Ryanair should compensate the disrupted passengers automatically without them having to make a claim.

The reason behind this major problem is reportedly a mix up with pilots holiday rotas meaning there are more on leave than there should be.

In the news today it has been revealed that there have been bonuses of up to £12,000 offered for the pilots to work extra shifts in order to combat the backlog. 

Interestingly the majority have turned down this offer and have instead insisted that their working conditions are reviewed. It seems that an improved working environment is worth more to them than money.

They claim that Ryanair management conduct themselves in a manner described as ‘threatening’ and say there is a worrying lack of internal communication – concerning considering the amount of responsibility they hold.

Head of Lawson-West’s Employment department, Vaishali Thakerar, comments: “There is an assumption that money can fix the majority of problems therefore it’s incredibly interesting that in this case it simply does not, and that the Ryanair employees (the pilots) are seeking better working conditions.

It’s a terrible shame it has taken a huge event such as this for their voices to be heard.

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