Members of the Ialpa pilot union working for Ryanair are about to go on strike for 24 hours on Thursday 12 July.

The strike will commence at 1am that day and the union said it will notify the airline of additional strike days in due course.

Reacting to the announcement, Ryanair said that it was “disappointed” by the strike action, but said that it expected that the vast majority of its customers wouldn’t be affected.

“Ryanair will communicate next Tuesday by email and SMS text with all customers travelling from Ireland next Thursday if this unnecessary strike goes ahead,” a statement said.

Earlier the union said 99% of members had backed industrial action in a ballot. The ballot count commenced at 2pm today.

In a statement, the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association, which is a branch of the Fórsa trade union, said it has served notice of industrial action on the airline.

Only Irish-based pilots took part in the vote. The union said the dispute is over management’s approach to transferring pilots between its European and African bases. It is seeking an agreement that would govern base transfer arrangements and related matters.

“Our member pilots directly employed by Ryanair complain that there is no transparent system for the determination of important matters including voluntary/involuntary base transfer/allocation, command upgrade, allocation of annual leave and promotion,” the union said.

“When a pilot receives notice of a mandatory base change or is denied a request for a change of base, such management decisions can have a devastating effect on family life.”

Source: TheJournal