Irish Carrier Aer Lingus and the Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association (IALPA) have both accepted invitations to attend separate meetings at the Labour Court tomorrow amid the ongoing pilot pay dispute.
The development is here after the pilots threatened to begin industrial action from Wednesday until Sunday. Over 35,000 passengers have been disrupted and over 240 flights have been cancelled ahead of the five-day work-to-rule.
The airline is disputing IALPA's claim that its members have not received a pay increase since 2019 as increments have continued to be paid allowing them to continue to move up the pay scale.
As per the plan of IALPA, a work-to-rule action will run from Wednesday to Sunday, with an eight-hour strike planned for Saturday, 29th June.
The IALPA is seeking a pay increase of 23.8% over three years, which it says is
“clearly reasonable and affordable for a profitable company such as Aer Lingus.”
IALPA informed its members this evening that the Labour Court had asked both Aer Lingus and IALPA to separately attend the court tomorrow to update the court on their respective positions.
Once this is complete, the court will reflect on how it may best assist both parties.
Irish Fine Gael politician and Taoiseach, Simon Harris, has welcomed the decision this evening, saying:
”These meetings provide an opportunity to try make progress and ensure the travelling public are not further affected by this dispute.”
Harris this afternoon raised the dispute with employer and union stakeholders during his first meeting of the Labour Employer Economic Forum (LEEF).
During the meeting, he said that given the “unique” nature of the Aer Lingus dispute, it is important that it is resolved as quickly as possible.
He also urged those present to do all they could to get people back to talks to resolve the matter quickly and to avert any further disruption and distress for families.
Donal Moriarty, chief corporate affairs officer with Aer Lingus, said
“Aer Lingus is perfectly willing to engage in proposals that would see their pay increase beyond 12.25%, but we have to be able to talk about the things that can do that,” said Moriarty, who added that “IALPA are unwilling to talk about those things”.
Thousands of passengers intending to travel with Aer Lingus over the coming week face huge uncertainty, with pilots set to begin their indefinite work to rule from Wednesday in a dispute over pay.
Earlier today, the airline said it is possible customers will be informed of flight cancellations at the departure gate due to upcoming industrial action by pilots.
Over 10 Aer Lingus flights departing from Dublin to London Heathrow have been cancelled over Saturday and Sunday, and Ryanair is putting on an additional 6.45am flight to London Stansted on Saturday, and a 12.15pm flight to Stansted on Sunday.
Responding to the situation, Ryanair today added several flights to its schedule this weekend in response to the strike.
Ryanair said the airline is “working closely with Aer Lingus to accept some of their transfer passengers during the school holidays”, but noted that there is “very limited seat availability”.
Earlier this month, the carrier said it looked unlikely that it would be allocated a new Airbus aircraft by its parent company IAG due to the ongoing pay dispute.
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