Ryanair pay-off to pilot

A former Ryanair pilot has won a £40,000 pay-off from the airline after he was sacked. James Anderson, a member of pilots’ union BALPA, was dismissed for giving to one of his cabin crew a union recruitment leaflet from Unite, the union which organises flight attendants.

Ryanair had alleged that giving the leaflet to a member of cabin crew while the aircraft was in flight was unsafe. But the tribunal would have heard evidence that the plane was at a cruising altitude, on automatic pilot, with a co-pilot at the controls and that in these circumstances pilots are free to eat, drink, go to the toilet, and talk to cabin crew.

Jim McAuslan, BALPA general secretary, said; “We regard this as a significant victory. The safety of the travelling public depends on the likes of Captain Anderson and that is a responsibility he is proud to shoulder. Captain Anderson, like all his professional colleagues, will not see that compromised.” The union believes that he should never have been dismissed in these circumstances, McAuslan added.

In an unrelated publicity stunt, Ryanair delivered 18 red roses to the bosses of Unite, as a thank you to mark "18 months of British Airways strikes". The payment to Anderson means those roses cost £2,222 each — a price even a florist on Valentine’s Day could only dream of.

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