A Court of Appeal has ruled that Ryanair acted unlawfully when it withdrew travel benefits from pilots who took part in a strike.
The pilots joined industrial action in 2019, despite threats from Ryanair that they would lose their concessionary travel benefits.
The benefits were subsequently removed for 12 months.
The British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) said Ryanair was ‘effectively punishing pilots for exercising their legal right to strike’.
It argued in court that Ryanair’s conduct amounted to blacklisting under UK regulations designed to protect workers from such discriminatory practices.
Alice Yandle, Partner at law firm Farrer & Co, which represented the pilots in their battle against Ryanair said: “The judgment is emphatic in its acceptance of all the arguments we advanced and has confirmed that the Blacklisting Regulations prohibit employers from compiling a list of trade union members who have gone on strike in order to discriminate against them.”
BALPA General Secretary Amy Leversidge said: “This is a huge win for BALPA and the trade union movement more generally which could not have been achieved without the bravery of the pilots involved and the wider support of the BALPA membership.
“Thankfully the Court’s decision will put a stop to employers making lists of striking employers in order to punish them and we hope that this judgment will make employers think twice before relying on other harmful strike-busting tactics in the aviation sector and beyond.”
