Landmark ruling favours Ryanair in pilots dispute

A LANDMARK Supreme Court ruling — which found the Labour Court had acted incorrectly in a row between Ryanair and its pilots — could have major implications for how industrial disputes at companies which do not recognise trade unions are resolved.

The budget airline scored a rare, if potentially short-term, legal victory yesterday when the Supreme Court ruled in its favour that the Labour Court had not adopted correct procedures in how it ruled on a dispute between Ryanair and its pilots.

The five-judge court overturned an earlier High Court ruling that the Labour Court had jurisdiction to investigate a row over the terms of a pilot retraining scheme.