"Ryanair threatened by fresh strikes in Germany", 30 July 2018

Ryanair's German pilots have voted overwhelmingly in favour of striking in a row over pay and conditions.

The Vereinigung Cockpit pilot union said 96% were in favour of striking. It has given Ryanair until 6 August to make an offer to avoid a strike, which must be announced 24 hours in advance.

Ryanair has already cancelled hundreds of flights this month due to pilot strikes in Dublin and cabin crew walkouts in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Belgium...

[The Vereinigung Cockpit pilot union] wants collective bargaining agreements with Ryanair and conditions on a par with similar budget airlines such as TUI.

Ingolf Schumacher, chairman of collective bargaining agreements at Vereinigung Cockpit (VC), accused Ryanair of "playing in the negotiations" which have been going on since January.

Ryanair said it had invited the union to another meeting next week.

"We hope we can make further progress in concluding a collective labour agreement with our pilots in Germany," a spokesperson for the airline said...

Ryanair agreed last year to recognise unions as official representatives for workers, but it has struggled to reach agreements with some of them.The move followed a scheduling crisis last September which led to the cancellation of thousands of flights.