Ryanair UK pilots to decide by Wednesday on plan to limit job losses

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ryanair's British pilot union is to announce on Wednesday whether its members have backed an agreement brokered with management to mitigate the loss of 334 pilot jobs by agreeing to series of measures including a 20% pay cut, the union said.

It did not say how many jobs might be saved.

The British Airline Pilots Association said it had negotiated with Ryanair "to mitigate the potential loss of 334 UK pilot jobs," which the airline had notified the union of on May 18.

"To do this we have jointly developed a range of measures including a 20% temporary pay reduction which will be restored to 100% over the next four years," a spokeswoman said.

Members are due to take a final decision on the proposed deal, with the final result to be made public on Wednesday, she said.

Europe's largest low-cost carrier is facing union resistance in a number of markets at plans to cut pay by up to 20% and axe up to 3,000 jobs. It has said the number of job cuts might be smaller if staff agree to pay cuts and productivity improvements.

Ryanair has bypassed its Irish union, which rejected similar proposals, and asked pilots there to directly accept a deal that included a temporary 20% pay cut to minimise job cuts.

(Reporting by Alistair Smout; writing by Conor Humphries; editing by Barbara Lewis)