Balpa drops Ryanair recognition plan

The pilot’s union Balpa has reportedly decided to drop plans to force formal recognition on Ryanair, but is now intending to set up a “Europe-wide staff association”. As reported, relations between unions and the no-frills carrier have been strained at best, with chief executive Michael O’Leary referring to Balpa as “the British Airways low-pay association”. Unions, in turn, have criticised the carrier for its policy of not paying trainee staff and making workers pay for their union. But now, The Guardian reports, Balpa intends to create the Ryanair European Pilots’ Association, in what is thought to be the first initiative of its type. Balpa chairman Mervyn Granshaw is quoted as saying: “We recently raised the issue of cross-border unions dealing with cross-border companies at the Trades Union Congress, as today’s markets require more than the traditional response of sovereign trade unions.” As reported by News From Abroad earlier this year, one Ryanair manager sent a memo telling pilots that they “might as well join the Taleban, the Monster Raving Loonies or the Moonies” as Balpa. Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad Ltd