"Ryanair’s blacklisting appeal fails to fly", 20 January 2025.

Union celebrates as court warns employers that retaliatory measures against lawful industrial action are not only unacceptable but also legally indefensible.

On ...17 January the British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) scored a major victory against the Irish airline Ryanair when the Court of Appeal of England and Wales , with the judgment ... confirming that employers are prohibited from compiling or using lists of striking employees for discriminatory purposes under the Employment Relations Act (Blacklists) Regulations 2010. The decision marks the first occasion on which the Court of Appeal has examined the scope of the Blacklisting Regulations since their introduction in 2010....

The case had its genesis when Ryanair pilots took industrial action in September 2019 in a dispute over pay and working conditions. Prior to the strike, Ryanair had warned that concessionary travel benefits would be withdrawn from those who participated – and the airline followed through on its threat by creating a list of striking employees and using it to enforce the removal of benefits for an entire year.

A cohort of affected pilots, including lead claimant Ben Morais, challenged Ryanair’s actions at the Employment Tribunal (ET), arguing that the airline’s conduct violated both Section 146 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULR(C)A) and the Blacklisting Regulations 2010....

In 2020, the pilots won their case at the ET, a decision upheld by the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) the following year. Ryanair subsequently appealed to the Court of Appeal but the case was delayed pending...

On Friday the Court of Appeal ruled decisively in favour of the pilots, confirming that participating in strike action falls within the definition of “activities of a trade union” under the Blacklisting Regulations, rejecting the airline’s contentions that the EAT had erred in its interpretation of the relevant statutes, and noting that “the ET and EAT were right to describe Ryanair's attempt to relitigate the lawfulness of the ballot as an abuse of process”. The court further clarified that employers are unequivocally prohibited from compiling or utilising lists of striking employees to impose discriminatory sanctions, regardless of whether the industrial action complies fully with statutory requirements under Part V of TULR(C)A.....

In her statement, general secretary .... commented: “Thankfully the court’s decision will put a stop to employers making lists of striking employees in order to punish them and we hope that this judgment will make employers think twice before relying on other harmful strike-busting tactics in the aviation sector and beyond,”....