UK judges have dismissed an appeal by Ryanair of a 2021 employment tribunal ruling, after the carrier revoked concessionary travel benefits from pilots who participated in a 2019 strike.
The UK cockpit union BALPA initiated a strike over pay and conditions across several days in August and September 2019.
Ryanair lost a challenge to the strike ballot. But it circulated a notice to all its UK-based pilots on 16 September 2019 warning that staff travel was a discretionary benefit – and that any pilot participating in further strikes that month would have this privilege removed for a year.
The carrier carried out this threat after strikes on 18-19 September, and affected pilots took the matter to an employment tribunal in January 2020, alleging that the withdrawal of travel benefits constituted a “detriment” contrary to labour relations legislation.
The tribunal held that, by taking strike action, the pilots were taking part in trade union activities, and so-called ‘blacklisting’ regulations prohibit, to an extent, companies from compiling lists of people who take part in trade union activity for the purposes of discrimination.
While Ryanair’s appeal to the tribunal was dismissed, the carrier was given leave to appeal to the High Court.
Ryanair appealed to the High Court on three grounds, among them a claim that the phrase “activities of trade unions” had been misinterpreted.
But the court ruled that government guidance documents on the blacklisting regulations “strongly support” the view that their “ordinary meaning” make it unlawful to blacklist employees for taking part in union industrial action.
All three judges rejected the appeal, a decision which BALPA describes as a “significant legal triumph” which “sets a powerful precedent” as well as delivering “justice” for Ryanair pilots.
“The court’s decision will put a stop to employers making lists of striking [employees] in order to punish them,” says BALPA general secretary Amy Leversidge.
“We hope that this judgement will make employers think twice before relying on other harmful strike-busting tactics in the aviation sector and beyond.”
