Aer Lingus management and pilots to attend Labour Court

Aer Lingus management and the Irish Airline Pilots Association (IALPA) will attend the Labour Court today in a bid to resolve their ongoing pay dispute.

On Saturday, hundreds of Aer Lingus pilots, who are members of IALPA, took part in an eight-hour strike which led to the cancellation of 120 flights impacting up to 17,000 passengers.

Striking pilots staged a picket at Dublin Airport which saw them march through the airport campus carrying placards demanding better pay.

IALPA members at Aer Lingus have also been engaging in an indefinite work-to-rule since last Wednesday.

The action involves pilots 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 outside of work hours or answer work phone calls outside of work hours.

Read more: Crucial moment in Aer Lingus pilots dispute approaches as patience wears thin

The industrial action has so far led to the cancellation of 392 flights.

The pilots are seeking a pay rise of up to 24% to take account of inflation since their last wage increase in 2019.

However, Aer Lingus is seeking agreement on productivity and flexibility in return for any pay increases that go beyond the 12.25% agreed with other groups of workers at the company.

Last Tuesday, the Labour Court met separately with the two sides but said it would not be intervening at that time.

On Thursday, management and union representatives met face to face for five hours, but the talks broke down without agreement.

On Friday, the Labour Court issued a fresh invitation to the two parties involved to attend a meeting today to review the situation.

The development saw IALPA back down from a plan to escalate the industrial action.