AER Lingus is resuming full service after cancelling over 600 flights due to industrial action by pilots. The Irish Airline Pilots Association have suspended their work-to-rule strike after it recommended acceptance of Labour Court proposals. The proposal was aimed at resolving its pay dispute with Aer Lingus after pilots sought a pay rise of up to 24 per cent to take account of increases in the cost of living since their last wage hike in 2019.
The strikes saw 573 pre-planned cancellations and a further 37 cancellations on the day of the flight - which caused misery for around 84,000 frustrated travellers. The Labour Court recommendation includes a 17.75 per cent pay increase for pilots over a four-year period.
IALPA is currently holding a series of meetings with members before conducting a ballot of pilots. The pilots will be able to vote in the ballot from tomorrow before it closes on Tuesday July 23. The industrial action was suspended last Wednesday night but Aer Lingus has cancelled flights up until yesterday.
They confirmed that this move could not be reversed and that today marks the first day of full service since the work-to-rule began on June 26. The Labour Court has also proposed the ending of 2022 pay scales and the scrapping of a crewing agreement on rostering and summer leave. They also recommended the termination of a debt owed by pilots to the company as part of that agreement.
Irish Air Line Pilots' Association (IALPA) President Mark Tighe previously stressed that they will be “back looking at an escalation” of industrial action if an intervention by the Labour Court fails. He declared: “If this fails today, we are back looking at an escalation. “There is nothing that I can see beyond the Labour Court and its extensive experience, as I mentioned before, so in recognition of that we didn’t escalate.
"But if this doesn’t work, there is not much of another option on the table.” Taoiseach Simon Harris previously pleaded with both sides to find a resolution with the summer holiday season in full swing. Harris admitted he is concerned about “bad blood” between the parties - but urged them to think of frantic families hoping to go on holiday.
The Fine Gael leader said: “There’s people who’ve been saving all year, putting a few bob aside to bring the kids on a summer holiday. “Most Irish people are decent and full of common sense. “They want to see this resolved and they believe people should, instead of bringing the planes out of the sky and not allowing people to go on their summer holidays, they should lock themselves in a room and not leave the room until they sort this out.
“Both sides need to dig deeper, there is absolutely zero public support for this action. That’s not, by the way, me letting the employer off the hook.”.
