Aer Lingus row intensifies as travel association accuses pilots of ‘terrible timing’ for strike – The Irish Times

The labour dispute at Aer Lingus has escalated after the airline accused the Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association (Ialpa) of “blackmail”, to which the union responded with accusations of “greed” and did not rule out a full-scale strike.

Angry exchanges over the weekend fuelled fears that the holiday plans of hundreds of thousands of people could be disrupted. The Irish Travel Agents’ Association (ITAA) accused the pilots’ union of “cruelly” timing its eight-hour strike next Saturday.

The cancellations include dozens of flights to popular tourist destinations, including key routes to Malaga and Faro in the Algarve. More than 215 flights were cancelled between next Wednesday and Sunday, including 120 on Saturday alone.

On Sunday, both management and Ialpa said they were willing to talk, but accused the other side of hindering meaningful negotiations.

Donal Moriarty of Aer Lingus accused the pilots of trying to “blackmail the company by causing enormous damage to Aer Lingus, but more importantly, to its customers”.

( Aer Lingus cancelled flights: Full list of over 200 services disrupted due to industrial action )

( Aer Lingus cancels Toronto-Dublin flight after co-pilot resigns )

He denied Ialpa’s claims that management was unwilling to enter into talks to resolve the dispute, saying the airline wanted “talks about productivity and flexibility, which is perfectly normal in the context of industrial relations discussions, but Ialpa refused to do that”.

Captain Mark Tighe of Ialpa denied that negotiations would only take place if the wage demand was accepted, saying that while the union wanted management “to accept our demand of 24 percent of the cumulative inflation rate, it is not imposing any preconditions.”

He said the pilots “were not trying to cause harm, they were exercising their rights as they are entitled to under the law like everyone else, and the company flatly refused to meet our claim for a fair overall wage.”

He said that between 2019 and 2023, “top executive salaries at Aer Lingus increased by 66 percent” and suggested that this was “simply management greed”.

Speech at RTÉ This week, He did not rule out a general strike. “That is certainly a possibility, and then there is the possibility that the company will take drastic measures, but that is not currently being discussed,” he said.

Government officials expect that the growing unrest will lead to an intervention this week. However, senior sources say that such an intervention would make little sense as the two sides are so far apart and there is little hope of an agreement.

“For them to come together, there has to be a way to reach an agreement,” a source said. “There’s no point in forcing it if they’re too far apart.”

Given the tense situation over the weekend, the government is pessimistic about whether serious disruption can be avoided this week. Ministers believe their scope for meaningful intervention is very limited.

ITAA chair Clare Dunne described the impasse as “a real mess” and said the decision to impose a full-scale strike next Saturday was “truly cruel. Primary schools close on Friday, so there will be a lot of children and families waiting to go home that day.”

Describing it as “an absolute nightmare scenario”, she said bookings on Aer Lingus for the coming weeks had plummeted. “Nobody is booking Aer Lingus, at least not if they are travelling in July and August,” she said.