Ryanair close to deal with Italian pilots following talks, says union

There are approximately 600 Ryanair pilots in Italy, and about 350 of those are represented by Anpac. Stock photo: PA

John Mulligan

Italian unions held their first talks with Ryanair yesterday to thrash out labour agreements for the airline's cabin crew in the country.

Union Anpac also concluded its fourth meeting with Ryanair executives regarding a recognition and collective labour agreement for pilots in Italy. An Anpac spokesman told the Irish Independent that the union hopes to have signed off on a deal for pilots within two weeks.

The spokesman said that the agreement will see harmonised contracts for Ryanair pilots across its Italian bases.

He also said that Anpac would not be predisposed towards entering an arrangement where there would be pan-European negotiations with Ryanair spearheaded by an umbrella group. "If we started to try to negotiate at European level, we would never go anywhere," he said.

However, he said Anpac would be willing to negotiate on wider European level in relation to a small number of issues, such as how pilots are transferred between bases in the event that a base closes, for instance.

There are approximately 600 Ryanair pilots in Italy, and about 350 of those are represented by Anpac.

The union spokesman said that approximately 65pc of Ryanair pilots in Italy are now direct employees, with 35pc on contract.

The meetings in Rome yesterday were attended by Ryanair's chief people officer Eddie Wilson, while the airline's chief operations officer, Peter Bellew, is also understood to have been present.