Ryanair Employees Striking Again

Ryanair crew members are going on strike today and tomorrow causing the airline to cancel hundreds of flights, which is set to impact close to 100,000 customers over the course of the next two days. Ryanair employees, who before last December had never gone on strike, have been wielding their new-found union support with periodic strikes throughout the first part of this year.

After scheduling shortages at the end of 2017, employees of Ryanair threatened a massive strike during the holiday season if their demands to unionize and improve work conditions were not met. Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s CEO, conceded on the union front, but the pilots and crew allege that the rest of their demands still have not been met.

In this month alone, pilot and crew labor disruptions cancelled over 650 flights during peak holiday season for European travelers. The persistent worker action has contributed to the dip in Ryanair’s second quarter earnings, falling 20% from the previous year.