Aer Lingus pilots announce strike and accuse airline of escalating dispute – The Irish Times

Aer Lingus pilots will walk out of work from 5am to 1pm on Saturday 29 June after accusing the company of escalating their pay dispute. This is in addition to the already announced strict sick leave policy which will come into force from Wednesday next week.

Members of the Irish Airlines Pilots’ Association (Ialpa) announced the strike to the airline on Friday afternoon.

The pilots’ move came as Aer Lingus finalised plans to cancel 24 flights a day over the coming week, potentially affecting 4,000 passengers. The airline’s aim is to counteract the expected chaos that could be caused by the pilots’ scheduled service on Wednesday.

The airline hopes that the plan will protect as many flights as possible and minimize short-term cancellations.

( What rights do I have if industrial action at Aer Lingus affects my holiday plans? )

Ialpa President Captain Mark Tighe said: “We have been forced to escalate this dispute after Aer Lingus management launched a campaign of hostility against our members. Instead of meeting with Ialpa to negotiate directly to resolve the dispute, the airline is sending letters to Ialpa threatening to cut members’ working conditions by unilaterally terminating collective agreements.”

“Aer Lingus’ legal representatives have also this week written in their personal capacity to each member of the Ialpa Executive Committee threatening to bring proceedings in the Supreme Court for alleged unlawful conduct relating to an alleged increase in pilot sickness absence,” said Captain Tighe.

“IALPA strongly rejects this allegation.

“Aer Lingus has not sought any meetings since the service commitments were announced earlier this week. The company has made no effort to negotiate an agreement to avert the measures that begin on Wednesday,” he said.

Captain Tighe added that the scale of the flight cancellations announced by Aer Lingus for the coming week “demonstrates the extent to which the company relies on the flexibility and goodwill of pilots”.

The strict work requirement, already announced by pilots and coming into force on Wednesday, rules out flexible working hours, which are crucial to an airline’s operations in the summer when most people fly. This will lead to flight cancellations, delays and other problems for Aer Lingus.

Their union is demanding pay rises of 23.88 percent to compensate members for inflation since their last pay rise in 2019 and, it says, to bring salaries in line with airlines such as British Airways, which belong to the same group as Aer Lingus.

Industrial action at Aer Lingus: what impact will it have on passengers?

Most recently, Ialpa rejected a labor court’s recommendation that members accept increases totaling 9.25 percent. The union announced its decision last Tuesday.

Taoiseach Simon Harris called on both sides in the pay dispute to “take a step back” to ensure that hard-working people who have saved for summer holidays are “not seriously disadvantaged”.

“I honestly don’t think there’s any justification for it given the impact it’s going to have. The impact is disproportionate and people really, really, really need to take a step back before it crashes.”

“This will have an impact on children and parents who want to go on holiday. It will also have an impact on the economy. And it will also have an impact on the people who come to our country for tourism,” he continued.

Speaking on the Isle of Man, where he attended a meeting of the British-Irish Council, Harris called on the company and the pilots’ union to sit down for the negotiations that will inevitably have to be held to resolve the dispute.

“Disputes can only be resolved through negotiations, that’s how they are always resolved in the end. And the question for both parties now is, will they try to resolve the problem now and show maturity in doing so, or will they let it continue as it is and then come to talks? Talks must take place, disputes can only be resolved through talks, and what I am calling for is that we now shorten the lengthy process and all the chaos that will be created for the people and actually get to the negotiating table quickly.”