Unions condemn racism of Ryanair boss

ITF, ETF and its affiliates have strongly criticised Michael O’Leary for his offensive and inflammatory comments about Islamic passengers. In an interview last weekend with the UK Times newspaper, the Ryanair chief executive pinpointed single Muslim men as a particular security threat and called for additional checks on them at airports. His comments have drawn […]


March 2, 2020

ITF and ETF welcome announcement that Ryanair chairman will step down

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) welcome today’s news that Ryanair chairman David Bonderman will step down next year, just months after calling for him to be voted out by shareholders. The announcement, which comes alongside the company’s poor quarterly results, follows a period in which Mr Bonderman has […]


February 5, 2019

One year on, Ryanair still needs to stabilise its industrial relations

A year after Ryanair announced it would recognise unions, the company still has a long way to go before it can be considered a fair employer. On 15 December 2017, under immense pressure from workers and facing looming challenges to its growth plans and corporate governance, Ryanair announced that it would recognise unions for the […]


December 12, 2018

Ryanair chief executive wins prize for world’s worst boss

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary has been voted the world’s worst boss at the Congress of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). The prize, whose shortlist also included Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Uber’s Dara Khosrowshahi, was open to a worldwide public vote in the lead-up to the ITUC Congress. The contenders are all top business […]


December 6, 2018

Ryanair chairman faces two-pronged bid to unseat him (bloomberg.com)

By Benjamin D Katz Ryanair Holdings Plc’s chairman of more than two decades, American billionaire David Bonderman, is facing increasing opposition to his re-election at the Irish discount carrier’s annual meeting this month. The ITF and ETF international labor groups and investor-advisory service Glass Lewis are separately lobbying against the reappointment of Bonderman, a long-time […]


September 5, 2018

‘We’ll play fair, Ryanair’ – global unions respond to airline’s recognition decision

The European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) and International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), who represent workers in all the major players in Europe’s aviation industry, including Ryanair, have welcomed Ryanair’s statement today [15/12/2017] that it will change its “long standing policy of not recognising unions”– and have issued a challenge to the airline to play fair […]


December 18, 2017

Ryanair Clashes With Denmark Over Labor Laws (bloomberg.com)

Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O’Leary loves a good fight, and he’s won far more than he’s lost, building the Irish carrier into Europe’s biggest discount airline over the past 20 years. But tiny Denmark could be O’Leary’s toughest adversary yet. Since introducing service to Copenhagen this spring, Ryanair has come under nonstop attack from unions, […]


June 23, 2015

Ryanair pulls staff and planes out of Marseille in row over contracts (theguardian.com)

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary, the unflinching king of cost-cutting, may finally have met his match in the strictness of French employment law. The Irish low-cost airline will close its only French base in Marseille this week in the latest round of a bitter war with French authorities. O’Leary has been engaged in a stand-off with […]


March 30, 2015