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NICOLA STURGEON HAS been re-elected as the First Minister of Scotland by a majority of MSPs at Holyrood.
The SNP leader said she wants to lead the country “to brighter and better times” and said recovery from the coronavirus pandemic was her “driving priority”.
After her re-election, Sturgeon argued there was a “clear mandate” for another Scottish independence referendum but promised to “exercise that mandate with responsibility, humility, and only when the crisis of Covid has passed”.
Sturgeon defeated Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross and Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie, who each put themselves forward as candidates.
She won 64 votes, ahead of Ross on 31, four for Willie Rennie and 28 MSPs abstained.
In her pitch to MSPs ahead of voting, Sturgeon said: “In government, I have sought over this past year to work across the chamber throughout the Covid crisis.
“If re-nominated today, I will continue to do so as we do implement a programme to kickstart recovery.
“That will be a programme with the NHS, the economy and jobs at its heart, and we will take an inclusive approach to the debate that all countries must have about how we can build the best possible post-pandemic future.”
Following her election, she said: “There is simply no greater privilege than to be elected as the First Minister of our country.
“I pledge that I will fulfil the duties placed on me to the very best of my ability.
“I will do all I can, with all of the powers vested in the office of First Minister, to make our country the best possible place to live, work, and grow up in.”
Addressing the issue of Scottish independence, Sturgeon acknowledged opinion was “evenly balanced” and said that while nationalist views should not be ignored, pro-union Scots “mustn’t feel as if you are being bludgeoned towards an outcome you have not been persuaded of”.
She continued: “Our economic prospects depend on us attracting more people to live and work here in Scotland and yet on Thursday, in Kenmure Street in my constituency, immigration officials tried to forcibly remove two individuals against the wishes of their community.
“With independence, the decisions that shape our future will lie with us.”
After the votes were announced, Ross praised Sturgeon as “sincerely committed to the job” but urged her not to be “spend the next five years mired in the same stale debates and disagreements that consumed and held back the last parliament”.
Calling for her to lead a government whose focus was on recovery from the pandemic, he added: “If that is the task that the SNP Government applies itself to 100%, that it will find support from these benches.
“But if they deviate from that task, if they put political priorities ahead of Scotland’s interests, if they waste time in this chamber on old arguments instead of constructive delivery, then we will fight them every step of the way.”
Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, said: “Right now, we need a First Minister for everyone in Scotland, not a campaigner leading a movement for half the country but a First Minister who will lead a national recovery for everyone.”
He added: “The national recovery can’t just be a slogan, but it must be our parliament’s collective national mission on behalf of the people we are all elected to represent.
“So over the coming years, let’s be inspired by the future we can build, not the arguments of the past. Let’s demonstrate the best of Scotland. Let’s focus on what you unites us, not what divides us.”
Making her first speech at Holyrood, the Scottish Greens co-leader, Lorna Slater, challenged the other parties to commit to “more cross-party working on matters such as a national care service, housing, education, and tackling the climate and nature emergencies”.
She added: “I’m hoping that the First Minister and everyone in this room will consider the nature of the multiple crises that we face, and will commit to working in the spirit of cooperation and constructively across party lines to make the kind of transformative changes that are needed to protect our environment, and ensure an economy that works for everyone.”
Rennie said he had “admired” Sturgeon’s leadership through the pandemic, her communication and her caution and called on her to scrap the cabinet post for the constitution in favour of one focused on recovery.
“That appointment would be a powerful signal of the priority for this parliament,” he said.
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so “treat them mean, keep them keen” aint working for Ryanair
@James B: he is hardly an idiot for pointing out that employees who are mistreated by their employer owe nothing except the bare minimum in return.
@James B: Is that you Mr O’Leary ?
@James B: we try teach kids in primary not to personally abuse people online and your here, from your picture approaching 70 and calling random strangers idiots. I find it amazing..
@James B: nice selfie lol. Bebo stunner!!
Guess it’s all coming back to bite you Mick. Just be nice.
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh: treat them mean???? They’re on a lot more money than you…
@Gareth Cooney: are you Dáithí’s bank manager?
Good, Ryanair’s employments practices in respect of pilots and cabin crew are not industry standard, even for low cost carriers their employment model is particularly poor. And before the Ryanair fanboys jump in to this story with “well think how expensive it was before Ryanair”, this is 2017 so the cost of a ticket in 1987 is completely irrelevant to this issue. I previously interviewed for a cabin crew position at Ryanair and the interview was essentially a brief chat, was offered the job but frankly wasn’t going to pay 2k for a training course Int Germany, (another joy of Ryanair, staff paying their own training costs) so I let that “opportunity” pass.
@Karl: how does Ryanair treat its mechanics? The people expected to declare the plane safe to fly?
@Karl: I paid for my own masters. That’s a training course. Many other people pay for their own training
@Colin Morris: I’m pretty sure they outsource that work to a company in Glasgow.
@Fluich Go Craicean: “training” to be a gloried waiter or waitress is hardly comparable to a masters degree
@Colin Morris: they don’t have any, they subcontract maintenance
@Fluich Go Craicean: In fairness Karl, your training, as you call it, opens a few more doors than that of a Boeing 737. So shelling two grand to be treated pretty shitty for the duration of your employment wouldn’t be very appealing.
@Paul Linehan: Apologies, Fluich…
@Boganity: no true, Ryanair have all their own mechanics/engineers in their bases, all the staff in Glasgow Prestwick at the maintenance base are all Ryanair employees, same as Dublin, Stansted etc. They only have contractors in hubs where there is no base, same way Delta, American, Aer Lingus, British Airways, Qatar etc etc have it, it’s standard practise across all airlines.
@Boeing Lover: prestwick has a company called ‘PAM’ which maintains Ryanair aircraft. At least it did when I left.. I believe it stands for ‘prestwick aircraft maintenance’. They could well have employees on the floor there but I’m fairly sure they don’t…
@Boganity:
Ryanair do not outsource their maintenance. It is done by Direct Ryanair employees
@Karl: cabin crew seats for landing, seats for landing.
Invest €2k in yourself and take the job. You’re free to leave at any time when you’ve paid for your own training. Be in control.
I’m pretty sure he doesn’t pay for the pilots training either.
@Fluich Go Craicean: i also paid for a masters, it’s hardly comparable to a 6 week training course. If for example the they don’t want to waste money investing in people who may quit early they should use he Emirates approach. Emirates pay for training but each pay cheque of your initial contract sees a small “training” deduction, once you’ve completed your initial contract you recieve these deductions back as a lump sum, therefore the deductions are only taken should an employee quit before finishing their first contract.
Treat staff poorly and eventually this will happen.
“We need Michael O Leary running the country, he’d fix everything!” :-)
@Arnold Lane: pilots sure they’re the same as TDs, all of them I’ve heard have their heads in the clouds!
@Arnold Lane: No one saying that now. And so many of us and been disagreeing for years with that silliest of silly ideas.
@Arnold Lane:
Same people will be busying themselves kicking him on the way down now.
Dublin based pilots would only see €5.5k after taxes of that bonus, probably not even financially worth it to lose their essential time off.
@Gulliver Foyle: If packaged right this could be tax free
@John Tierney: Please explain. I would be very interested to hear how it could be packaged tax free.
Put into shares would mean very little in tax
@Dec:
Shares are taxable, also they can’t be sold immediately
@John Tierney:
Tax evasion is against the law, there is no vehicle to pay employees bonuses or salary checks tax free other than a single 500 euro gift card
@John Tierney: So basically you are talking rubbish and have no knowledge on the subject whatsoever?
@Mary Murphy: transferred into an AVC
@Dec: Not correct…if that was so then every employee would be paid in shares.
@Gareth Cooney: You can do that with any salary you don’t need a bonus. Additionally you can’t get your hands on it until you reach retirement age. Then when you retire you will pay tax on the income you take, so you are still paying tax but at a different date in the future rather than now. If I could avoid tax by AVC I would put every penny I earn into AVC. AVC can reduce your tax if you are a low earning pensioner only.
@Mary Murphy: Yes I agree but the €12k will appreciate more in 25 years than the €6k tax you would pay today even after you pay tax in 25 years time
@Gareth Cooney: Hopefully it will appreciate…as long as you don’t invest in Anglo Irish shares! Now we get into a discussion regarding present value of money and your ability to make it grow faster that inflation etc etc. which slightly moves off subject. I think the. main point remains that original commentator who suggested that you can get paid in a way to avoid the (or evade) the tax was a little short on knowledge on the subject.
Well my concerns is whether it is actually safe to fly Ryanair.
A badly treated staff is a negligent staff.
How are Ryanair mechanics treated? Are we waiting for a catastrophe caused by carelessness because of O’Leary’s unreasonable demands on airline mmechanis?
@Gearoid O’Helidhe: are the mechanics treated in Ryanair?
Are they treated as badly as the pilots and crew?
@Colin Morris: Again with the same question from you: “whether it is actually safe to fly Ryanair.”
They have the newest planes in the sky. To my knowledge, they have NEVER had a fatal incident. They have one of the highest safety ratings in the industry.
https://www.airlineratings.com/ratings/ryanair/
That said, they are not in the top 10 list for low cost carriers which is:
“AirlineRatings.com editors also identified their top ten safest low-cost airlines.
These are in alphabetical order: Aer Lingus, Flybe, HK Express, Jetblue, Jetstar Australia, Jetstar Asia, Thomas Cook, Virgin America, Vueling and Westjet.
Unlike a number of low-cost carriers, these airlines have all passed the stringent International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) which has over 1000 audit items and have excellent safety records.”
So, Aer Lingus gets 7 stars, Ryanair gets 5. They are perfectly safe to fly but Aer Linugs gets a higher rating.
You appear to have an agenda against Ryanair. There are the facts. Safe but not the safest.
@Colin Morris: Ryanair have an immaculate safety record – the envy of other airlines
@Colin Morris: They fly over 2,000 flights a day. A spotless record which speaks for itself.
@Colin Morris: There’s never been a crash involving Ryanair he mostly only fly new planes and only for Michael O Leary and in the past Sir Freddie Lawler very few of us would be flying today
@Alan Scott: deregulation, the internet, robotic production lines, computer technology are what brought ticket prices down. Southwest in the USA introduced the world to low fare aviation, Ryanair took parts of their model and created their own unique model in Europe.
Just about to take off from Dublin to Gatwick. Flight has returned to airport due to “technical issue”.. could b a long day!!
@Alan Breen: are cabin doors not closed still!!!
@Alan Breen: Hang in there. At least they have high standards.
Ryanair revolutionised air travel making it affordable for millions.
Now there are several budget airlines so Ryanair going bust would be no loss.
It would be poetic justice for Bildarberg O’Leary.
@Colin Morris: Why would you want to see one of Ireland’s leading success stories go bust? And yes, it would be a massive loss. Particularly in Ireland, as they open us up to many routes that otherwise wouldn’t be available. Engage your brain.
@Conor: because there are plenty of other airlines who would take Ryanair’s place who would treat the former Ryanair staff better than that gimp O’Leary.
@Colin Morris: you certainly have an ace to grind.
@Fluich Go Craicean: axe
@Colin Morris: Here we go again with the old mantra. The sooner he gies bang the better for airfares.
@Colin Morris: It was US airline Southwest that brought cheap travel to the masses. Ryanair just copied their model.
Not surprised that the staff are unhappy… I once interviewed for a communications position with Ryanair, they rang me late on the 23rd of December and asked would I come in at 9am the next morn(Christmas Eve). Although it was extremely short notice, I wasn’t exactly in a position to turn it down.
I was interview by the Head of Communications Robin Kiely and I can honestly say that I have never met anyone more rude, arrogant or egotistical in my life(obviously par for the course with Ryanair). He left me waiting in the interview room for over 15 minutes with the HR girl while he stopped along the corridor to have a chat with Michael O leary and then when he finally comes in, he asked me who I was working for and then proceeded to look them up on his phone. During another question, he asked me to explain my definition of Ryanair before insinuating that I didn’t know anything about the company and I obviously hadn’t ever flown with them before(if only he knew). The entire interview continued in this condescending tone and the HR girl actually apologised to me afterwards for his unprofessional behaviour. As I was leaving, I asked her what time she was finishing up since it was Christmas Eve and she said none of the staff could go home until MOL had given them permission via email! Needless to say, I never heard from them again.
Looking back, I think it was a blessing in disguise that I never got that job!
@Claire:): A blessing I’d say. It’s people of his arrogant ilk that make working life dreadful and something to feel actually I’ll about, before going to work. Life’s too short for that crap. I reckon o Leary is due comeuppance
It seems to me that Michael O Leary tried to bully his staff for a long time now and with no union he was getting away with it. A union is needed with these private companies because the owners and management are greedy I hope the staff will get what they are entitled to.
I must be a bad person but I can not believe how seeing O’Leary in this mess gives me such joy…his was always quick to offer smartass advice to everyone else….sorry for the travelling public who he has hurt
@Dain Flemming: The word you want is Schadenfreude.
Michael said he would sack the luas drivers over their industrial action. Wonder will he sack his pilots? Don’t think so because Michael needs the pilots more than they need him in the new world.
@rockmast:
What industrial action could MOL sack them for? They are not on strike
Mick is learning that the laws of supply and demand can be a double edged sword.
Respect and manners come free
The only things flying now are pigs and chickens coming home to roost!
Just pay them what they deserve, tight gits
@jason bourne: it’s not the pay it’s the conditions
@Boganity: Well, he should just hire enough pilots to cover normal time off in the first place. I don’t want to fly with a company where the staff haven’t had time off in a solid year. That’s a crazy, blinkered proposal. People aren’t indentured slaves. He shouldn’t even think about pushing that notion on the staff.
I read that O’Leary said the airline had “some goodies” to propose to pilots, but added: “If pilots misbehave, that will be the end of the goodies.” Does he think his billions entitles him to speak to adults and his fellow workers as if they were bold children. What a to$$er!.
@David Knight: “Does he think his billions entitles him to speak to adults and his fellow workers as if they were bold children” most of rich people think this way. It is one of the privileges of being rich.
@David Knight:
So many goods that the pilots are abandoning Ryanair in their droves?
They have lost 3.5% of their pilots to 1 airline this year.
How many have they lost in total?
@David Knight: he once referred to pilots as glorified taxi drivers
And you know something, he was right.
@Gareth Cooney: You’d know all about that then would you?
All that landing at night after four sectors, into Tenerife with a raging crosswind, on minimum fuel experience you have, Mr. Troll, is it?!
@Bi88les: Sure there’ll be driverless planes soon enough. It’s not rocket science, ffs.
Will you wear the school uniform and the hat down to the dole office?
@Gareth Cooney: Troll.
Bye Mick. Thanks for the DVT and that dirty feeling.
By your own lofty standards you’d be gone by now.
@Eugene Walsh:
So you get DVT from Ryan and not from other carriers ???
@Nick Allen: yup, mentally and physically
Most companies that hire new staff pay for their training
@Thomas Linehan: Not in the airline business. Do IT companies pay for graduates courses? Hospitals for doctor’s training?
Delighted. He’s tun his staff into the ground treating them like dogs. Investors won’t care about his bravado, money talks and he has cost them tens of millions.
Brendan ogle lining up a job to as spokesman/ Rep for pilots???
Michael O’Leary is Ireland’s Donald Trump in so many ways – divides opinions all over the country, “but sure isn’t he a fantastic businessman” – getting what he wants through aggression and arrogance with little regard for anyone except those on his upper payroll. Wouldn’t surprise me if he ran for office when Michael D’s term is up…
@Rachel:
He’s NOT a fantastic businessman though.
He abuses his staff and endangers passengers through his negligence,.
The government should take out a full page spread on the Indo taking the pith out of O’Leary.
@Emmet Dillane:
That would be a good use of tax payer money alright. Good to see you have your priorities right
So far pilot representatives from 30 of the company’s 80 or so European bases turned down the cash bonus offer, saying that Ryanair needs to improve their contracts and address the toxic work environment in the company.
Michael O’Leary abuses his staff. He deserves to be sacked and for Ryanair to go bust.
Now with lots of other budget airlines in place it’s good to see Ryanair in trouble.
I would like the Journal to check out the work environment and conditions for Ryanair mechanics.
If they are abused in the manner that pilots and crew are, then they are likely to be negligent when it comes to safety.
Its a big scam, Michael O’Leary purposely driving down the share price so they can buy them back at a fraction of the cost. Wake up people.
@John Quill:
Thanks for the laugh
@Marcus Maher: Will you all ever cop on!
By the way you are all talking I am guessing you have never flown with EasyJet.
Saw this on breakingnews.ie he wants to take back a week of leave & give it back in January… http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/ryanair-will-take-back-week-of-pilot-holidays-insists-michael-oleary-806756.html
They never stop trying to screw you, even when they’re desperate! €Bonus paid after a year??!! Minimum of 800 hours?!!
They’ll work you 799.9 hours and tell you to go swing when it’s time to pay up.
What sane employee can trust these leeches?!!
@Bi88les: That’s business get over it. There’s thousands working for Ryanair and none of them are held captive. They’re free to go but they don’t because they are happy to do a fair days work for a fair days pay.
As for the forever whining glorified taxi drivers. €12k for a few weeks holidays is €500-€600 a day, that’s not to be turned down……
@Gareth Cooney: We’re seeing business right now. Supply and demand. I can’t believe it’s taken Ryanair pilots so damn long.
Business is one thing – blatant lies, bullying and underhand tactics another…
Are we seeing the Ryanair business model changing,
Seems like the end game is the staff shall get better pay and passengers pay higher fares.
@JJ Sharkey: and then those kicking up now will complain about the fair rise….
So the tail is trying to wag the dog. Good luck with that. You could tell from Mondays announcement that the pilots were trying to hold him to ransom and it was never about holiday rosters. It wasn’t a mix up it was a set up, they have changed aviation contracts for the worse and for their brothers.
Enter Brazilian Pilots to the European market they’ll be glad of an 800 hour year for €100k
@Gareth Cooney:
Ryanair are losing millions of euro a week now, thanks to Michael O’Leary’s abuse of his staff.
The airline is now too big for him to run. Within a year he will be gone and pay and conditions will have improved.
If not then it’s going to go bust.
@Gareth Cooney: Don’t feed the Troll…
@Colin Morris: You’re spouting an awful lot of things on here, what’s your qualifications in aviation and more importantly what’s your expertise in how Ryanair is managed?
Ryanair is “cheap and nasty”.
@Eoin: What a hugely privileged thing to say. For less than an hour to the UK, most people don’t feel it worthwhile to pay more and buy extra comfort. When I was a student, I flew Aeroflot to Miami. Try six hours of that and the return flight to look forward to, and you’ll find Ryanair services terrific.
Pilots in Ryanair are facing charges in Germany thanks to laws which are only legal in Ireland. No other airline has to deal with this kind of crap.
have your say