No flights cancelled during German strike, says Ryanair
Ryanair said nine of their 36 first wave flights in Germany were delayed this morning.
A Ryanair spokesperson said there were no cancellations.
“Nine of our 36 first wave flights operating from Germany this morning were delayed, but there have been no cancellations, and Ryanair expects to operate all of our German scheduled flights today. We are grateful to all of our Ryanair pilots for putting our customers first and largely ignoring this VC strike," it said.
First wave flights refer to the first flights in the day, a spokesperson said.
"We apologise sincerely to our customers for any inconvenience suffered as a result of this unjustified and unnecessary strike by a small number of pilots organised by the Lufthansa (VC) pilots union," the airlined added.
Ryanair is asking German customers to turn up as normal today despite a planned pilots' strike, writes .
German Ryanair pilots have said they will strike between 5:01am to 8:59am local time at all airports in the country.
However, the airline aims to operate all inbound and outbound flights.
The Vereinigung Cockpit pilots' association said negotiations ended without any results and is now carrying out industrial action for the first time.
"All flights are planned by German airports during this period will be affected," it said.
"VC regrets the impact on affected passengers, cabin crew and ground crew. Passengers may wish to contact Ryanair directly regarding their flight schedule, only Ryanair will be able to ascertain which flights will be operated," it added.
It said the "principles of trade union autonomy are disregarded" by Ryanair.
"Ryanair's public offer to conduct negotiations with VC can only be classified as a further publicity stunt", said Ingolf Schumacher, head of VCs’ Industrial Department.
"In the history of the VC, there has never been a case in which the collective bargaining autonomy has been trampled on by an employer as it is now the case with Ryanair. This makes it clear to VC that the company is not interested in a mutually constructive cooperation, based on trust and equality. Rather, Ryanair is trying to win time and attempting to delay the beginning of collective bargaining," Schumacher said.
Ryanair called the strike by the VC pilot union "unjustified and unnecessary".
Warning #strike at @Ryanair tomorrow December 22, 5:01 am to 8:59 am local time, at all German Airports.https://t.co/dPggPN71oP
— Vereinigung Cockpit (@vcockpit) December 21, 2017
The airline said it had agreed to progress negotiations on Friday January 5.
It said it was happy to negotiate with German pilots and VC officials but it said the Ryanair Pilots Council had not been elected by Ryanair pilots, contained non-Ryanair pilots and a former Ryanair pilot currently in litigation with the airline.
"Ryanair will continue to engage with the VC union and its German pilots to try to agree a CLA in early January, so tomorrow’s four hour strike serves no purpose other than to disrupt thousands of German passengers in Christmas week," the airline said.
Ryanair’s Robin Kiely said:
“Ryanair apologises sincerely to any German customers worried or affected by this threatened 4 hour strike tomorrow morning. We hope that our German pilots will put the needs of our customers first during Christmas week.
"We advise all customers in Germany to turn up as normal tomorrow, as we plan to operate all scheduled flights, and we will be doing our upmost to minimise any disruptions to the Christmas travel plans of our German customers.”
Ryanair's full statement is available here, while VC's press release is available here.
Here, the strike threat receded yesterday after the company wrote to IMPACT confirming union recognition.
