German pilots' union ready for talks with Ryanair next week

BERLIN (Reuters) - German pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) has requested a meeting with Ryanair early next week after the Irish low-cost carrier said it would recognise unions in a bid to stop strikes.

"It's now up to Ryanair to prove the seriousness of this announcement," Ilja Schulz, VC president, said on Friday. "As soon as we have agreed short-term dates for negotiations on the requested wage contracts, we will give up on the planned strike measures."

VC had threatened Ryanair with strike action, joining unions in other countries to put pressure on the airline's management as they sought to negotiate better contracts.

Ryanair said on Friday that recognising unions would be a "significant change", but that it hoped to have new structures agreed early next year.

(Reporting by Andreas Cremer and Victoria Bryan; Editing by Susan Fenton)