In a major development in the ongoing Aer Lingus pilot pay dispute, the Labour Court has recommended Aer Lingus give its pilots a 17.75% pay increase, over 4 years.
The eagerly anticipated recommendation follows a long meeting between the airline and the Irish Airline Pilots Association (IALPA) trade union last week.
IALPA – which had been seeking closer to a 24% rise for its member pilots at Aer Lingus – will now put the new recommendation to a vote of its members at Aer Lingus.
For its part, Aer Lingus said it will carefully review the Labour Court recommendation and will confirm its position following that review.
Already, nearly 550 Aer Lingus flights have been cancelled due to industrial action at the airline.
The Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA) has welcomed the move; urging both IALPA and Aer Lingus to put the customer at the centre of the agenda and end this dispute, which has already impacted more than 80,000 passengers.
Clare Dunne, CEO of the ITAA said: “We are asking both parties to accept the Labour Court’s recommendation. Disputes all end sooner or later – it is within their power to end it now.”
“ITAA members have been working hard on behalf of their customers to minimize the disruption to them by rebooking and rerouting them to get them away on their holidays.”
“The good news is that ITAA Travel Agents around the country have managed to rebook / reroute or arrange refunds for the majority of their customers who have been impacted by cancellations. However many people only get the chance of one holiday per year and they have spent a lot of their money on it, therefore, we are asking both IALPA and Aer Lingus to accept this recommendation and end this dispute now.”
