Aer Lingus and pilots’ union to attend the Labour Court today as industrial action continues

AER LINGUS AND the pilots’ union engaged in ongoing industrial action are to attend the Labour Court later today.

The Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association (IALPA) were in the middle of discussions around the possibility of escalating their industrial action when the invite was issued.

An indefinite work-to-rule began on Wednesday, with pilots now refusing to work overtime, accept changes to set rosters, or take on out-of-hours management requests.

All-out strike action also took place on Saturday between 5am and 1pm.

Across the Atlantic, pilots in Boston, Orlando and Seattle formed pickets in support of Aer Lingus pilots. Those who participated are members of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA).

ALPA members forming pickets in support of IALPA members taking part in strike action.

Close to 400 flights have been cancelled so far, with tens of thousands of passengers impacted.

On Friday, Aer Lingus announced it was cancelling a further 122 flights and said it had taken this action to “protect as many services as possible”.

Details of the services impacted are set out on the ‘Travel Advisory’ page of the Aer Lingus website, and communication is sent to affected customers.

Impacted customers will be given the option to change their flights for free or can claim a refund or voucher.

Aer Lingus said it “fully understands the anxiety being experienced by customers given the uncertainty caused by IALPA’s industrial action” and that it is “giving impacted customers as many options as possible”.

Talks have been ongoing for close to two years between Aer Lingus and IALPA, with IALPA previously rejecting a Labour Court recommendation that would have increased pay by 9.25%.

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.”

The union noted that in 2023, Aer Lingus had a full year operating profit of €225 million.

This was a 400% increase on 2022, when a full year operating profit of €45 million was recorded.

However, Aer Lingus has said it is willing to offer pay increases of 12.5% or above if “improvements in productivity and flexibility” are discussed.

Both IALPA and Aer Lingus attended separate meetings with the Labour Court last Tuesday, but the Court said it would not be intervening at this time and would review the matter in July.

Speaking on Saturday, IALPA president Mark Tighe said he was not aware whether they would be in the same room or not, as previous meetings had seen management and pilots hold discussions separately.

Aer Lingus meanwhile welcomed the Labour Court invitation and expressed “hope” that today’s engagement in the court “can result in an outcome that will bring normality to the travelling public”.

Speaking before last week’s unsuccessful Labour Court meeting where talks eventually broke down, Taoiseach Simon Harris urged both to “engage” rather than “put people through agony and chaos”.

He said there would be “very little sympathy and support for anybody who puts the travelling public through utter chaos” if they are not “engaging intensively”.