The Labour Court is set to resolve the long-standing dispute between Aer Lingus and its pilots early this week. The standoff has been on for several months, causing great inconveniences to the airline and hundreds of its passengers.
The key issue at stake here is pay. IALPA, the Irish Air Line Pilots Association, is looking for pay increases of more than 20% to begin to reflect the rise in prices over the last number of years. Their overall claim, they say, would add only €5 million a year to Aer Lingus’s costs. Aer Lingus claims that it cannot accept increases of greater than 12.25% unless pilots agree to increased productivity.
One serious consequence flowing from this dispute is that:
- Pilots began working-to-rule last month
- There was one eight-hour strike
- More than 500 Aer Lingus flights have so far been cancelled
- 80 more flights to be cancelled from Thursday
- More than 80,000 passengers have had travel plans disrupted
It is the third time the Labour Court has become involved in the dispute, which was previously heard at an internal pay tribunal and the WRC. The court indicated previously that pilots could be offered a 12.25 per cent increase if they agreed to return to the WRC for final negotiations, but pilots turned down this proposal earlier this month and agreed to ballot for industrial action.
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The Labour Court heard both sides’ arguments last week. While the court was due to publish its proposals on Friday, a decision may not be announced until later this week. The court’s proposals are not binding, which means either side can turn them down. The pilots’ union has already indicated that it will ballot its members on any proposal put forward.
Neither Aer Lingus nor the union (Forsa, which include Ialpa) would comment on the matter. As some anxiously await the ruling by the Labour Court in the hope it might finally bring this conflicted Irish aviation industry dispute to an end, the dispute continues.