"German works council closes": Pilots' union accuses Ryanair of deliberate destruction

Ryanair closes its base in Berlin. The “Cockpit Association” then accuses the airline of deliberately weakening union structures. In April, the union was able to claim a victory before the Federal Labor Court.

The pilots' union Verband Cockpit (VC) accuses the low-cost airline Ryanair of deliberately weakening employee representation. The background is the closure of the airline's Berlin base planned for Saturday, which will affect around 100 cockpit employees, as the union announced.

The only German works council in Ryanair flight operations was based in Berlin. The closure was announced in April - two weeks after the works council was successful in the Federal Labor Court. “If an airline closes the site with its only German works council (...), union structures are deliberately weakened and employees are intimidated,” said VC President Andreas Pinheiro. “This is clearly union busting.”

Ryanair rejected the allegations. A spokeswoman said the allegations were false. The decision to close the base in Berlin was solely due to the rising costs at Berlin-Brandenburg Airport. These included high airport fees, air traffic taxes and security fees. Berlin is the least successful airport in Europe. The volume of traffic is shrinking due to the lack of competitiveness in location costs.

The union also stated that during the collective bargaining negotiations that had been ongoing since April, Ryanair had terminated three of the six members of the VC collective bargaining committee. Two of the affected pilots have left the company, and a legal dispute is ongoing in another case. The VC is now increasingly having the negotiations conducted by full-time staff and lawyers in order to protect the volunteer pilot representatives from personal pressure. In view of the developments, Pinheiro called for political intervention.