Ryanair CEO Michael O’leary urged the airline’s unions to cancel the strike scheduled for Friday.
Speaking on Wednesday at a news conference in Diegem, he said the strike was being held even lthough the low-cost Irish carrier had recognized the unions, agreed to switch to local contracts and accepted to apply local laws in 2019.
He urged the unions to call off the strike which, he said, was not supported by the vast majority of Ryanair employees.
The press conference was held two days before the planned date of the strike, Friday 28 September, which will affect various countries where Ryanair operates, including Belgium.
O’Leary said Belgian cabin staff and pilots did not support the strike and stressed that only two to four flights were expected to be cancelled in Belgium.
The strike is useless, he added, reiterating that management had agreed to negotiate “everywhere” with the unions. The repeated strikes hurt the company and its clients, he argued, noting that Friday’s planned protest needed to be cancelled for the benefit of the company, whose image had been strongly tarnished, and of the customers, who wish to be able to reserve their tickets normally, without having to fear future strikes.
On Tuesday, Ryanair announced the cancellation of 190 flights as a result of the upcoming strike. About 30,000 passengers, out of a total of 450,000 are affected by the cancellations.
