Irish-based pilots in Ryanair have insisted that they will only negotiate with company management through a new joint European Employee Representative Council (EERC). The airline has refused to recognise the EERC and insists that talks be conducted through management-controlled “employee representative councils.”

Amid continued controversy over flight cancellations due to pilot shortages, which have left tens of thousands of customers in the lurch, the American pilots’ union APA has produced an online video calling for respect for Ryanair pilots.

IMPACT has sought legal opinion on the convoluted employment arrangements in place for many Ryanair pilots. The union has accused company management of using arms-length ‘zero hours’ contracts to undermine employees’ rights and avoid independent trade union representation.

The European Cockpit Association (EPA), which speaks for pilot bodies across the continent, recently sent an open letter to members of the European Parliament. It called for “genuine social dialogue” in the company, which denies its staff independent union representation and instead has company-run procedures in place. 

Like IMPACT, the EPA also wants the implementation of a recent European Court of Justice judgement, which said Ryanair pilots should be on employment contracts, governed by the laws of the country where they’re based and work from most of the time.