Ik denk dat ik wel weet waar de noninteresse vandaan komt...
MEMO from Ryanair Management to all Ryanair pilots
It appears that BALPA – the people who charge you money for doing nothing – are back. No surprise there. Having failed to win union recognition in Ryanair last time, they will be looking for another ballot this time, so that they can charge Ryanair pilots 1% of your salary each year in order to deliver you … nothing. Let me make Ryanair’s position on BALPA perfectly clear as follows;
1. We have no objection to any Ryanair pilot joining BALPA, the Taliban, the Monster Raving Loonies or indeed the Moonies. Each individual is perfectly free to join whatever organization he/she so chooses.
2. BALPA in return for your membership will charge you 1% of your total salary, a sum that will amount to up to £1,000 – yes £1,000 – each year. If you want to waste £1,000, we recommend fast women, slow horses or even greyhound racing, at least you’ll have a few minutes of fun, which is more than you’ll have with BALPA.
3. Where Ryanair will have a problem is when BALPA will try to use your membership to force union recognition into this airline. NOW THIS WILL COST YOU EVEN MORE MONEY. If union recognition is forced upon Ryanair at Stansted base, it will have the following repercussions;
a. The rates of future pay increases will be reduced to the BALPA rates of pay increase – in other words there won’t be any (just ask BALPA members in GB Airways, Easyjet, BMibaby), take your pick.
b. There won’t be any more favorable share option schemes for Stansted pilots.
c. There won’t be any further promotions or base transfers at Stansted as the base will be frozen. If you are a First Officer, kiss that promotion and pay increase goodbye.
4. This is just the start, because all BALPA will do is get you the BALPA rates (which are lousy) and the BALPA pay increases (which are non existent). If anyone needs advise on what BALPA can really do for you, just talk to the KLM/BUZZ or more recently the Duo pilots. Why not talk to the Easyjet pilots who have now had BALPA for 3 years and nothing to show for it except job applications to non BALPA Ryanair.
“What is the alternative.” The alternative, and sensible course for all Ryanair’s pilots is to continue as you have before, being members of whatever organizations you so choose, but continuing to negotiate directly with the airline through the ERC structure to improve your pay and conditions. Over the past four years this has seen your basic pay increase by 12%, your sector pay increase (upfront) by 12%, a continuous stream of promotions and base transfers and substantial share option participation. In addition Ryanair’s pilots have negotiated the best rostering arrangements in the industry and continue to enjoy operating the newest aircraft.
If you look at what BALPA has done for your colleagues in other UK airlines in recent years, you will see that BALPA promises a lot, but delivers nothing. For the last 3 years they have had recognition in Easyjet, and what pay increases they got, have lagged behind Ryanair, their rostering is a mess, their flight pay is less than half that of Ryanair, their total pay packages are less than Ryanair and there is still a steady influx of Easyjet pilot applications to Ryanair bases.
“But BALPA will prevent any further changes in my terms and conditions”. No they won’t. There is a mistaken view that Ryanair recently changed the 5 year pay deal. We didn’t. The terms of the pay deal allowed for it to be reviewed and altered after 3 years in exceptional circumstances. Believe me we presently live in exceptional circumstances. Take the following examples;
- Swiss and SAS have confirmed that they expect to lose money for another year or two, that’s if they are still in business.
- Alitalia has recently been bailed out for the third time by the Italian Government.
- SAS having let go 150 pilots last year and announced a restructuring package in late March that included pilot pay cuts (YES CUTS).
- SAS disclosed that its fares/yields fell by an unprecedented 17% in one month alone.
- Easyjet have issued two profit warnings in the last 3 months and their shares closed recently at £1.54p, less than half of the £3.89p peak of earlier this year.
- Easyjet warned that it expects “unprofitable and unrealistic pricing by airlines across all sectors of the European industry to continue”.
Despite this awful backdrop, Ryanair recently implemented another 3% basic pay rise for all staff including pilots. This is the only 3% pay increase in the Irish or British airline industry this year so far. Furthermore there is another tranche of share options on the way with the benefit of the current depressed share price. Yes, you lost some minor benefits including doing your medical on a day off, free teas and coffees, free uniforms, etc. All of these are worth less than your basic pay increase. These losses are pretty small compared to the job losses made among pilot numbers in SAS and more recently Duo, Jet Magic and others. 24 European airlines went bust in the last 18 months while you were getting pay increases, promotions and share options (see attached). Neither Ryanair nor BALPA can do anything about the awful world out there. BALPA promises much, but delivers nothing. Ryanair promises little, but delivers a lot.
Please do not be persuaded by the false promises of BALPA, who have repeatedly shown in other airlines that they are hopelessly ineffectual to improve pay or conditions, particularly when the pay and conditions in the only airline BALPA don’t have recognition in – namely Ryanair – are better than in the other big UK low fare airline (Easyjet), where BALPA have been recognized for 3 years now.
Finally, I would like to thank you all for your hard work and support in making Ryanair the best operation for safety and punctuality in Europe over the last 18 months. Thank you again for your support.
Best regards.
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Warwick Brady
