Aer Lingus threatens legal action, pilots claim – The Irish Times

Aer Lingus pilots say threats of legal action against union representatives in the High Court over an allegedly staged sickness campaign were partly the reason for their decision to go on strike next Saturday.

The Irish Airline Pilots’ Association (Ialpa) informed Aer Lingus on Friday that its members would walk out between 5am and 1pm next Saturday, June 29.

The move comes after the airline announced it would cancel 124 flights over five days next week in an effort to curb previously announced union action starting Wednesday.

The affected routes include Dublin-New York JFK and Cork-Heathrow, as well as flights from the capital to European cities such as London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Rome, Frankfurt, Geneva, Manchester, Munich, Vienna, Lyon, Hamburg, Düsseldorf and Birmingham.

( Aer Lingus had to cancel 56 flights this year due to pilot illness or unavailability )

Captain Mark Tighe, Ialpa’s president, said Saturday’s strike was in response to threats from Aer Lingus against union members and officials. He said the airline’s lawyers had this week threatened every member of Ialpa’s board with a High Court lawsuit “for alleged unlawful conduct relating to an alleged increase in pilot sickness absences”.

Captain Tighe stressed: “Ialpa strongly rejects this.”

Aer Lingus said this week that the number of pilots taking sick leave has risen, with 56 flights cancelled since January. Ialpa blames a shortage of pilots. Donal Moriarty, the airline’s chief corporate affairs officer, said on Friday the company had written to Ialpa management asking for an explanation for the increased sickness rates.

“We have simply reserved our position on the measures we will take pending their explanation,” he added.

Captain Tighe said a pilot illness committee at Aer Lingus had been contacting union members individually, which Ialpa finds threatening. “We would like to remind everyone that the law prohibits pilots from flying aircraft when they are ill,” he stressed.

( Aer Lingus pilots announce strike and accuse the airline of escalating the dispute )

He also said that Aidan Dunne, Aer Lingus’ chief operations officer, had written to him saying that Ialpa’s working practices were incompatible with the business.

“He said if we do not agree to new practices, they will terminate all our agreements,” added Captain Tighe.

Mr Moriarty argued that some collective agreements included practices that were incompatible with a modern airline and that Aer Lingus had written to the union asking for a discussion about them.

The pilots are demanding a pay rise of 23.88 percent, which their union says is a fair compensation for inflation over the past five years. The company described this as “exorbitant.” Captain Tighe said on Friday that Saturday’s action was to enforce his “demand for fair pay.”

( Aer Lingus Q&A: 20,000 passengers affected as airline lists routes affected by cancellations )

Ialpa says it is ready to meet with Aer Lingus unconditionally, but stresses that the airline has made no effort to resume talks since Tuesday, when the union informed it of its approach.

However, Aer Lingus said it had written to the union requesting a meeting next week and was awaiting a response.

The airline condemned the planned strike on Saturday, saying it was aimed at harming passengers.