IALPA awaits Labour Court response on pay deal

The Irish Airline Pilots’ Association (IALPA) is awaiting a response from the Labour Court to questions it asked about proposals aimed at ending its long-running pay dispute with Aer Lingus.

The IALPA executive met yesterday evening to consider the proposed deal which includes a 17.75% pay increase for pilots over a four-year period.

However, the union said it would not be issuing a recommendation to its members at this time.

IALPA has contacted the Labour Court to confirm its understanding of some elements of the recommendation and the executive will meet again once it has received a response from the court.

It is understood that one of the questions relates to the wording of proposals on structural changes to pay scales.

It is also understood that the IALPA executive was split on whether to recommend acceptance or rejection, with sources saying that a lot will depend on the response received from the Labour Court.

Once the union issues a recommendation, it will then hold a series of information meetings for members, a process which could last up to five days.

After that, the Labour Court recommendation will be put to an electronic ballot of members which will take up to three days.

All the while, a work-to-rule by pilots will continue meaning that more flight cancellations are expected.

Industrial action by IALPA members has so far led to the cancellation of 548 flights up until Sunday 14 July.

Aer Lingus has accepted the Labour Court recommendation which also proposes the ending of 2022 pay scales, the scrapping of a crewing agreement on rostering and summer leave, and the termination of a debt owed by pilots to the company as part of that agreement.