Ryanair has gone to court seeking an order preventing its Irish-based pilots from striking.
It wants an injunction preventing Forsa, the parent union of IALPA, from going ahead with the 48-hour stoppage from midnight August 22 in a dispute over pay and conditions.
The action is also against a number of pilots who are members of IALPA, including president Evan Cullen. IALPA represents approximately 180 Dublin-based pilots who are directly employed by the airline.
If granted, injunctions would remain in place pending the final outcome of the airline’s action against the defendants.
The airline, represented by Martin Hayden and Eoin O’Shea, also wants a declaration that Forsa’s ballot and its notice of strike action served on Ryanair this week was unlawful.
The airline claims the action strike would breach an agreement reached with Workplace Relations Commission chair Kieran Mulvey in 2018.
The deal requires the mediator to become involved if matters come to a head, and that the parties agreed to be bound to an independent finding by the mediator in the event of deadlock.
In a recent meeting the parties had with Mr Mulvey, counsel said the union had walked away from the mediation after stating it had failed.
Counsel said there had been issues over a pay increase sought by the pilots. It added it asked Forsa for specific details about the rise the union was seeking for its members but had not got them.
The airline also claims there is no trade dispute, nor any valid complaint about the pilot’s terms and conditions of employment. Ryanair claims no detailed pay proposals have been put to it in advance of the ballot or the time the strike notice was served.
On those grounds, the airline claims the union and its members are not entitled to the benefits of the 1990 Industrial Relations Acts.
Permission to serve short notice of the injunction application was granted, on an ex-parte basis, by Ms Justice Carmel Stewart.
The judge, who said she did not want to comment on the merits of the case, accepted the matter is urgent, made the application returnable to Monday of next week.
