UNIONS REPRESENTING PILOTS and cabin crew of airline Ryanair in Germany have called for a strike on Wednesday over better pay and working conditions.

The pilots’ cockpit union said in a statement today that they have been demanding these improvements “for months”.

Despite the “clear signal” given during the strikes in August, “the negotiations remain deadlocked. We demand finally some solutions,” said Ingolf Schumacher, in charge of salary negotiations for the union.

The strike, which is expected to last 24 hours, would involve some 400 Ryanair pilots and co-pilots in Germany.

About 1,000 flight personnel in the country have also called for a work stoppage on Wednesday.

“The salaries are so low they do not guarantee a sufficient living wage,” said Christine Behle of the German services union in a separate statement.

In August, Ryanair, which carries some 130 million passengers annually, had to cancel 250 flights to and from Germany after the German pilots joined a pan-Europe strike against the airline.

Meanwhile, Ryanair reached agreements with personnel in Ireland and Italy, which Germany’s cockpit union considers insufficient.

However, unions across Europe last week threatened “the biggest strike action the company has ever seen” over their members’ working conditions.

The strike, so far organised by unions in Belgium, Holland, Italy and Spain, is scheduled for the last week in September, with an exact date due by this Thursday.

However the walk-out could be called off should a meeting of Ryanair shareholders on 20 September meet union demands, the statement added following a meeting in Rome.

The airline has also taken the step of barring media from this annual general meeting later this month.

“Ryanair today advised all relevant financial media that at its AGM next week, there will be no press invited or admitted to the meeting and no press briefing afterwards,” it said, RTÉ reported.

We wish to allow shareholders to discuss all matters freely with the board without these discussions being distorted for PR purposes.

The AGM takes place on Thursday 20 September in Meath.

© – AFP, 2018

With reporting from Sean Murray