Ryanair's Labor Union Relations: A Case Study in Aviation Management

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MANAGING PEOPLE IN AVIATION
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Executive Summary
In this report, a brief discussion regarding the labour union of Ryanair has been discussed in
context of leadership and management. It contains the basic information related to the
problems faced by the airlines company. Labour union of Ryanair raised issues regarding
their involvement in the business management, which are further discussed in this report. In
addition, the advantages and disadvantages regarding their involvement in the management
have been kept in light in this report. It has all the basic details of problems faced by the
company due to the employees such as pilots, staffs and cabin crew who are associated with
Ryanair. A proper introduction and conclusion have been added to this report for better
assessment.
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
Describe the reasons that led in recognising labour unions by Ryanair.....................................4
Discuss the pros and cons of labour unions from a management perspective...........................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................8
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Introduction
Aviation refers to as the air transportation service, which is provided to public by specific
airlines. In this assignment, Ryanair UK has been focused on in detail. Ryanair is well known
as number 1 airline in Europe that carries 139 million customers in a single year (esncard.org,
2019). It is made on a low-cost business model and hence, travelling across Europe is faster,
easier and affordable in Ryanair UK. It also connects 224 destinations within 37 countries
(esncard.org, 2019). In this report, the positive and negative aspects of labour unions and
recognising them with respect to Ryanair will be discussed.
Describe the reasons that led in recognising labour unions by Ryanair
According to a recent report, it has been found that Ryanair suffered an exaggeration of
normal events over past few years (Zhang et al. 2017). The problem faced by them was
cancellation of thousand of flights due to uneven strikes happening in other countries, one of
which was Germany. The dispute with pilots and cabin crews caused the reasons of labour
unions in Ryanair. Several causes of tensions were found in this report. Some of them are as
follows:
● Ryanair, a low-cost air carrier service provider of Ireland based staff dissent over the
last 30 years in business.
● Pilots of this airline claimed that their management remained silent during the
division of personnel, improvement of self-employed status and avoiding all the
unions’ activities (Kleymann and Seristö, 2017).
● Aviation sector keeps on growing in every aspect. Therefore, this growth in Gulf
countries and China led to the increase in demand for pilots that led in raising the
market value.
● Many pilots quitted their jobs due the above reason and hence, the others who
remained became more militant.
However, Ryanair is a low-cost airlines, it faced tremendous problems regarding the labour
unions. Hence, after too much of force of cancelling the flights, they turned out with a huge
difference in December. They started looking after the union and applied for new
negotiations in the favour of the labours.
Current attitude of Ryanair towards its union
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The hierarchical took huge step towards the growth of their business by taking the decision of
engaging the trade union with the organisation. After 30 years of business, they decided to
include labour union in their business so that they can look after the problems faced by their
staffs (Lawman, 2017). They changed their company culture overnight for their staffs benefit.
According to the higher authorities, Ryanair mentioned that remarkable changes could let
them achieve recognisable in the business market (Helmreich and Merritt, 2017). Therefore,
Ryanair opened its trade unions in Ireland, Germany, Britain and Italy for better business.
Concessions made by the management of Ryanair
The management of Ryanair looked after the matter of trade unions and labour requirements
and took some different measures towards this matter. They improved the working condition
of the staffs and increased their salaries as well (Dijkstra, 2017). In addition, this airline
company decided to resolve the dispute with the local union and agreed for all sorts of
negotiations required in Ireland. In the Europe airlines business, the management failed to
attend the employees’ demand instead, they still managed to maintain a stable employment
within the country.
Turbulence to be faced ahead by Ryanair
According to a report, it has been found that the risk related to the company can grow further
if the company does not agree with their staffs (industryandbusiness.ie, 2017). The Europe
unions’ staff has threatened the airlines with the biggest strike that can ever happen. The
strike has been organised by Italy, Holland, Spain and Belgium respectively. The pilots and
cabin crew have demanded their part of success to be recognised by involving themselves
with the trade union.
Discuss the pros and cons of labour unions from a management perspective
The main goal of a labour union is to improve the working safety and support in increasing
the higher wages and benefits. According to Bamber (2018), labour union bears its own pros
and cons respective of any business. In this context, Ryanair’s trade union also has some
advantages and disadvantages. They are as follows:
Pros of labour unions
● Creating a foundation of a meaningful retirement
One of the most significant benefits of labour unions is a meaningful retirement after work.
The airlines management are bound to create a pension program for its employees in order to
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secure their future. In certain aspects, it has also been found that the labours also demand for
medical insurance in case of emergencies.
● Improves the workplace environment
It removes favouritism and let everyone work equally under any circumstances. The
employee of Ryanair made it clear that working for the company can let them gain
achievements and in return, they pleaded them to involve trade union in business.
● Create a clear chain of commands
Workers associated with Ryanair have the chances of working with the manager or the
supervisor in a friendly manner. This can help them in improving their work towards the
company.
● Fearless of being fired
Being in a group, less chance of being fired is found. Eventually, if the employer targets any
employee, then trade union can help that individual regarding termination.
● Creates better lives for every individual
In this aspect, the labour can directly negotiate with the management of Ryanair to improve
their behaviour and work in the favour of the labours.
Cons of labour unions
● Individuality gets limited
Every individual has different working style and structure. Hence, their individuality matters
for the airlines management. On the contrary, if the labours come under the trade union group
of the company, then they tend to lose their individuality. In addition, the management is
unable to reward the work of that individual worker.
● Helps in reinforcing the division of the socio economic culture
The socio economic cultures are damaged due to the division of the staffs into different
labour and trade union groups. Hence, to avoid this every organisation must have only a
single trade union for business.
● Seniority grows among the workers
The oldest member of the union group tends to rule over other members and hence, seniority
comes in order. This tends in growing of seniority among the workers and turns out to be a
negative aspect towards the airline management.
● Different rules followed apart from the business
The members of trade union are not bound to follow the basic rules, which are followed by
the company. Instead, they can change their rules and regulations anytime without the consult
of Ryanair’s management.
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● Termination of underperforming workers is applicable
The workers under the trade unions have to be working in order to maintain their job under
them. If they tend to fall apart, the union have the full right to terminate them trade union
group.
Conclusion
From the above discussion it can be concluded that, Ryanair have followed the business
strategy of including labour union in their business to enhance its growth through the working
measures of the labours. Further, it can be concluded that, Ryanair looked after the
advantages and disadvantages of trade unions if they are implied in business
(investor.ryanair.com, 2018). The current attitude of Ryanair towards its staffs has shown
improvement rapidly, still there are changes of high turbulence that can be faced by the
company in future. A huge difference of having trade union and not having it has been
figured out in this assignment. Various reports on Ryanair have been to achieve this
assignment to the brief.
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References
Bamber, G.J., (2018) Low-cost airlines’ product and labor market strategic choices:
Australian perspectives. Members-only Library.
Dijkstra, A., (2017) Safety management in airlines. In Resilience Engineering (pp.183-203).
Esncard.org (2019). Ryanair Travel & Transport. Available at
https://www.esncard.org/ryanair [Accessed on 15/04/2019]
Helmreich, R.L. and Merritt, A.C., (2017), November. 11 Safety and error management: The
role of crew resource management. In Aviation Resource Management: Proceedings of the
Fourth Australian Aviation Psychology Symposium: v. 1: Proceedings of the Fourth
Australian Aviation Psychology Symposium.
Industryandbusiness.ie (2017). Tag “Ryanair”. Available at
https://www.industryandbusiness.ie/tag/ryanair/ [Accessed on 13/04/2019]
Investor.ryanair.com (2018). Annual Report. Available at https://investor.ryanair.com/wp-
content/uploads/2018/07/Ryanair-FY-2018-Annual-Report.pdf [Accessed on 12/04/2019]
Kleymann, B. and Seristö, H., (2017) Managing strategic airline alliances. Abingdon:
Routledge.
Lawton, T.C., (2017) Cleared for take-off: Structure and strategy in the low fare airline
business. Abingdon: Routledge.
Zhang, A., Hanaoka, S., Inamura, H. and Ishikura, T., (2017) Low-cost carriers in Asia:
Deregulation, regional liberalization and secondary airports. In Low Cost Carriers (pp. 55-
69).
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