Aer Lingus pilots serve notice of work-to-rule as pay dispute deepens

It will begin at 00:01 hours on Wednesday, June 26.

​A strike by Aer Lingus pilots is likely to cost the airline between €20m and €25m a day, the company has warned.

The airline’s chief corporate affairs officer, Dónal Moriarty, said last night that any such action would have a hugely damaging impact on the carrier’s reputation across Ireland, the US and Europe.

“It appears to be designed to inflict the maximum disruption on the travelling public, in terms of timing, if it is to happen,” he said of the strike threat.

Aer Lingus pilots could announce strike dates as early as today after they voted overwhelmingly in favour of ­industrial action in a fresh ballot at the weekend. Their union is legally required to give Aer Lingus a minimum of seven days’ notice, meaning their action could begin next week.

The pilots are looking for a near 24pc pay increase. That would cost Aer Lingus between €40m to €45m a year. The IAG-owned airline has offered a 12.25pc pay increase, while the Labour Court recommended an interim increase of 9.25pc, which was rejected by the pilots.

Any action announced by the Irish Airline Pilots’ Union (Ialpa) today could include all-out strike days or a work-to-rule. Either scenario would significantly affect flights at the airline, which during the busy summer period carries about 40,000 passengers a day.

If a strike is called, between 90pc and 95pc of those passengers won’t get to fly. A strike will also have a knock-on impact the day after. About 14,000 of its passengers on summer days are on transatlantic services, with 26,000 on short-haul routes throughout Europe.

The daily loss the airline is projecting by a strike includes the cost of compensating passengers, hiring in additional aircraft, rerouting customers and lost bookings. With other airlines also typically booked out during the summer, the options for rescheduling passengers on other services are severely restricted.

Mr Moriarty said there appeared to be a “determined approach” by Ialpa to initiate industrial action.

“We will be indicating to passengers what their options are and how we can help them, but the disruption will be significant,” he said. “If it’s work-to-rule, we would have to assess the form of that and determine what impact that would have on our operation, but we’d have to see the detail of that.”

Ialpa, which represents almost 800 pilots at Aer Lingus, said yesterday that it was now consulting its umbrella union, Fórsa, in relation to its next steps.

What are my rights if my flight is cancelled?

The union said its pilots were now “more determined than ever” to secure their pay claim.

Speaking on Tuesday, Finance Minister Michael McGrath called for the dispute to be resolved through talks.

“I would call on both Aer Lingus management and the unions to get down around the table as quickly as possible and to have meaningful discussions to avoid industrial action,” he said on his way into Cabinet.

“We’re coming into a very important season now, where for many individuals and families, this is the one opportunity in the year that they may have to get away.

“So the earlier the discussions take place, and a settlement can be agreed between the airline and the pilots representatives the better.”

Irish Hotels Federation president Michael Magner said the strikes could have “a very negative impact” on the hotel industry.

“To have a strike like this, particularly in what is almost peak season, is unwelcome and disappointing. It’s important that this doesn’t go ahead, because it could impact so much of the economy in terms of hotel stays, other tourist attractions and experiences as well.”

A paper ballot by pilots was taken over the weekend after a previous electronic ballot was questioned by Aer Lingus.

Ialpa president Captain Mark Tighe said the result of the second ballot was “an incredible reaffirmation of our mandate for industrial action in pursuit of a meaningful pay offer”.

Captain Tighe said the pay claim was “to ensure that pilots’ pay has the same purchasing power as it did in 2019”.

Airlines have to pay compensation to passengers under EU rules only if the carriers cancel their flights 14 days or fewer before their scheduled departure. Aer Lingus has asked Ialpa to give it 15 days’ notice of any action.

Mr Moriarty insisted the request of 15 days’ notice was not to circumvent the compensation rules.

“That’s not the motivation,” he said. “The motivation was to get as much time as was possible to reaccommodate as many of our customers as possible.”

The Department of Transport called for a resolution to be reached “to avoid any action that would disrupt the ­travel plans of many thousands of passengers this summer and which would be detrimental to our tourism industry”.

‘Ransom’

Aer Lingus’ chief corporate affairs officer has said the last thing the airline want is “disruption to our customers” however he added that “we can’t be held to ransom”.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland on Tuesday, Aer Lingus’s Mr Moriarty again denied the company was asking for 15 days’ notice of industrial action from Ialpa to avoid paying compensation to passengers under European rules.

“Our only motivation in looking for that notice period is to re-accommodate as many customers as possible. We have no difficulty in refunding, re-accommodating or compensating customers where compensation is necessary,” he said.

He said that if Ialpa give seven days of notice of industrial action, then Aer Lingus will “absolutely fulfil all of our compensation obligations by compensating passengers”.

On the gap in the dispute between the pilot’s union and Aer Lingus, Mr Moriarty said the 24pc increase would involve senior airline pilots getting a €50,000 increase in their pay, bringing their total overall package up to €350,000.

“Inflation is something that has effected everyone, not just pilots, and all other groups in Aer Lingus have accepted a 12.25pc pay increase and pilots are holding out for 24pc.

“That level of increase is not tenable, it’s exorbitant and won’t happen,” he added.

He outlined that the starting salary for a co-pilot is €60,000, climbing incrementally over a 26-point co-pilot and captain scale.

The top of the scale, which has over 200 pilots, have a base salary of over €200,000.

He said the €50,000 increase is more than the annual pay of 3,500 of the airline’s 5,500 employees, adding that “on that basis alone, it is untenable”.

Mr Moriarty said Ialpa has rejected the outcome of two independent processes to resolve the dispute.

These are a pilot pay tribunal and the interim recommendations of the labour court.

“We have offered to engage in meaningful discussion with Ialpa to offer a solution and we have also offered to Ialpa to go to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) to reach a solution.

“Both of those offers at this point have been rejected,” he said.

He added that Aer Lingus is calling on Ialpa to go to the WRC to “avoid an unnecessary dispute inflicted on thousands of customers during the peak of the summer”.