Irish agents hail potential breakthrough in Aer Lingus pilots’ dispute
James ChappleThe head of Ireland’s agents’ association has urged Aer Lingus’s pilots to accept a near 20% pay uplift to end weeks of industrial action, which the association says has already impacted more than 80,000 passengers.
Clare Dunne, chief executive of the Irish Travel Agents’ Association (ITAA), has once again called on both Aer Lingus and the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association (Ialpa) to settle their pay dispute and to put customers "at the centre of the agenda".
It comes after Ireland’s labour court on Monday (8 July) put forward a recommendation of a 17.75% pay increase for Aer Lingus’s Irish based pilots – well above the approximately 9% offered by Aer Lingus earlier this year but shy of the 24% sought by Ialpa.
The long-running dispute saw Ialpa’s Aer Lingus pilot members embark on an indefinite period of industrial action in the form of a strict work-to-rule policy starting on 26 June. It has so far resulted in the cancellation of nearly 550 flights.
Aer Lingus has accepted the labour court’s recommendation, which covers a four-year period backdated from 1 January 2023 to the end of December 2026. Ialpa will meet on Tuesday (9 July) to discuss the offer and whether to put it to its members.
"We are asking both parties to accept the labour court’s recommendation," said Dunne. "Disputes all end sooner or later – it is within their power to end it now.
"ITAA members have been working hard on behalf of their customers to minimise the disruption to them by rebooking and rerouting them to get them away.
"The good news is that ITAA agents around the country have managed to rebook, reroute or arrange refunds for the majority of their customers impacted by cancellations."
’Enormously damaging’
Ialpa president, Captain Mark Tighe, said the union wouldn’t be rushed into a decision, stressing there were some aspects of the offer Ialpa needed to clarify. He added the executive was unlikely to meet until Tuesday afternoon owing to some of its members being in the air.
Aer Lingus said the recommendation increased the term of the proposed agreement from three years to four. It also reportedly proposes ending some flexibility around summer leave, and other productivity changes, Irish broadcaster RTE reports.
In a statement, the airline added it would have to consider the "longer-term implications of implementing the recommendation and of this dispute, which has been enormously damaging both financially and reputationally".
Ialpa’s Aer Lingus members started their strict work-to-rule action on 26 June following two votes in favour of action up to and including full strikes. They walked out for eight hours on Saturday 29 June as part of the dispute.
The action only involves Aer Lingus pilots employed in Ireland. Aer Lingus Regional flights between the UK and Ireland, operated by Emerald Airlines, are unaffected, as are Aer Lingus’s transatlantic flights to and from Manchester.
Pre-emptive cancellations have so far been announced as far out as Sunday 14 July. Aer Lingus says any customers whose flights are impacted by the action will be contacted directly or via their travel agent.
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