Aer Lingus pilots will stop work from 5am to 1pm on Saturday 29 June after accusing the company of escalating their pay dispute. It is an addition to the previously announced strict work, which is to rule from Wednesday next week.
Members of the Irish Airline Pilots Association (Ialpa) gave notice of the company’s shutdown on Friday afternoon.
The move by pilots came as Aer Lingus confirmed plans to cancel 24 flights a day next week, affecting potentially 4,000 passengers, in a bid to combat expected chaos from pilots’ planned government work to start on Wednesday.
The airline hopes the plan will protect as many services as possible and minimize last-minute cancellations.
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Ialpy president Captain Mark Tighe said: “We have been forced to escalate this dispute following a campaign of antagonism by Aer Lingus management aimed at our members. Instead of meeting with Ialpa for direct negotiations to resolve this dispute, the airline is sending Ialpa letters threatening to cut members’ terms by unilaterally terminating collective agreements.
“Aer Lingus lawyers also wrote to every member of the Ialpa executive this week in person, threatening to take High Court proceedings for alleged wrongful conduct in relation to an alleged increase in pilot sickness absence,” Capt. Tighe said.
“IALPA strongly denies this allegation.
“Aer Lingus has not sought any meetings since the compliance notice was served earlier this week. The company has made no effort to negotiate a settlement that would avert the action that will begin on Wednesday,” he said.
Captain Tighe added that the scale of flight cancellations announced by Aer Lingus next week “illustrates the extent to which the company relies on the flexibility and goodwill of pilots”.
The tight government job already announced by pilots and due to come into effect on Wednesday rules out any flexible work that is essential to running airlines during the summer, when most people fly. This will result in flight cancellations, delays and other problems for Aer Lingus.
Their union is seeking a 23.88 percent pay rise to compensate members for inflation since their last pay rise in 2019, and says it will match pay with carriers such as British Airways, which is part of the same group as Aer Lingus.
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Most recently, Ialpa rejected a labor court recommendation that members accept a total increase of 9.25 percent. The unions filed notice of their work on the government last Tuesday.
Secretary Simon Harris urged both sides of the pay dispute to “step back from the brink” to ensure hard-working people who have saved up for their summer holidays “are not severely decompressed”.
“I don’t think there’s any justification for it, frankly, in terms of the impact it’s going to have. The impact is disproportionate and really, really, really, people need to step back from the brink.
“This will affect children and parents who want to go on holiday; it will also affect business; it will also affect people coming to our country for tourism,” he continued.
Speaking on the Isle of Man, where he was attending a meeting of the British-Irish Council, Mr Harris encouraged the company and pilots’ unions to sit down for talks that will inevitably have to end the dispute.
“Disputes are always resolved only through negotiation, so they are always resolved. And the question for both sides now is, are they going to try to resolve this now and show maturity in that regard, or are they going to let it continue and end up in talks anyway? Talks have to happen, disputes are only resolved through talks and I’m asking, now let’s shorten the lengthy process and all the chaos it creates for people and actually get around the table quickly.”