The executive of the Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association (IALPA) has requested that the union’s disputes committee meet tomorrow morning to consider further strike action by pilots at Aer Lingus.
Talks held today between airline management and pilots’ representatives – aimed at ending a dispute over pay – broke down without resolution.
The union’s executive has recommended that the disputes committee of its parent union Forsa consider sanctioning an additional work stoppage, longer in duration than the eight-hour stoppage planned for this Saturday.
If the committee agrees, the union will have to give at least seven days’ notice to the company before its members can strike. That would mean a further work stoppage is unlikely before next Friday.
In a statement, Aer Lingus said that it noted the “intention of IALPA to consider further strike action” and “believes that this would be entirely inappropriate given the request of the Labour Court this week that the dispute should not be escalated”.
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Leaving the talks, IALPA President Captain Mark Tighe said that smaller groups from both sides had met today to see if they could make progress. He said IALPA officially moved from the figure of 23.8% that it was seeking for a pay rise.
“The company has not moved from its statement that anything more than 12.25% would have to be funded by pilots’ own payments through work practice changes,” Cpt Tighe said.
He said during the negotiations it had become apparent to the union from the company’s own costings that a figure of around €5m a year is the stumbling block.
Cpt Tighe also claimed that Aer Lingus had contravened the Labour Court’s request earlier this week for both sides not to escalate the dispute by denying a Captain access to an executive lounge and also by insisting that they will renegotiate all the collective agreements.
He said that if the union refuses this, the company has said it will use its right to legally terminate those agreements.
He said in view of the escalations by the company, the chances of an escalation of the industrial action by the pilots would have to be considered to be high.
IALPA should ‘revisit its mandate’ – airline
On his way out of the talks, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Aer Lingus Donal Moriarty said the company had tried to engage constructively with the union.
He said the airline tried to discuss issues that would resolve the dispute, in particular productivity, flexibility and the modernisation of their collective agreements.
He said these were essential to meeting a pay deal with IALPA that is over and above the 12.25% that had been agreed with other groups in Aer Lingus.
“Unfortunately, IALPA was unable to enter into discussions on those items, in fact it informed it had no mandate to do so,” he said.
“We advised IALPA and encouraged them to revisit that mandate in order to put it within their power the normal aspects of pay negotiations.”
He suggested that the mandate could be revisited on Saturday when pilots could meet while they are on strike for eight hours.
Mr Moriarty added that the company also encouraged IALPA to take up the offer made to both parties by the Labour Court to use its services, if a joint referral was made by both parties.
“Aer Lingus is willing to go back to the Labour Court on a formal joint referral basis and it has encouraged IALPA/FORSA and in particular FORSA to agree to that,” he said.
He said the movement by IALPA on pay was minimal and that the pilots pay claim remains in excess of 22%.
He also claimed that the company’s assessment of the cost to it of the pilots’ claim is €40-45m extra a year.
“Our position is accurate,” he stated. He also denied that the company had done anything to escalate the dispute.
“We would expect that IALPA would respect the Labour Court in that regard,” he said.
He said 270 flights have been cancelled but there is no doubt that if the industrial action is to continue, more cancellations will be required.
He said the airline is assessing whether the strike and other industrial action will require further cancellations out to 3, 4 and 5 July.
Mr Moriarty said it is necessary to review collective agreements in the context of productivity and flexibility changes that are required as part of any pay deal and denied that this was an escalation as claimed by the pilots.
He said Aer Lingus remains willing to engage in direct discussions at any time, but for them to be constructive IALPA will have to revisit its mandate.
Read more:
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Pilots began an indefinite work-to-rule yesterday and are planning to engage in an eight-hour strike on Saturday.
The work-to-rule involves IALPA members not working overtime or any other out-of-hours duties requested by management.
They are also refusing to log on to Aer Lingus online portals or answer work phone calls outside of work hours.
‘Exceptionally concerned’ – minister
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Peter Burke said that “as a minister, I’m exceptionally concerned for our tourism sector, our SME sector and all those families right across our economy who really need certainty for their travel plans”.
Speaking at the launch of Enterprise Ireland’s annual business review for 2023, Mr Burke said: “We need to get down to the basics, fast track the negotiations and really get it resolved.”
The minister said the dispute is dragging on and causing uncertainty.