Whatever you think of Michael O’Leary’s free wheeling espousal of free market economics, many of us have found his Ryanair service is invaluable for getting around Europe at a decent price. However, it may it come at a price. Nearly all the airline’s Irish based pilots are complaining of victimisation stemming from O’Leary’s efforts to get them to accept repayment of “the €15,000 cost of their training if the airline was forced to deal with a trade union within the next five years”.
The number of victimisation claims received by the LRC has now topped 200, implying an average of two complaints for each of the roughly 100 Ryanair pilots based in the Republic. If all of the claims were to be upheld, Ryanair would face a potential compensation bill of more than €52 million. Ryanair has maintained that its pilots are among the best paid in the industry and can earn up to €130,000 a year.
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty