Pilots to meet on 17.75% Aer Lingus pay rise proposal

Pilots’ union leaders are meeting on Tuesday to consider whether to accept a 17.75 pay increase offer to end their dispute with Aer Lingus.

The airline on Monday confirmed that it would agree to the proposal tabled by the Labour Court in a bid to end the row that has forced the cancellation of 548 flights, upending 82,000 people’s travel plans.

Executive members of the Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association (Ialpa), part of trade union Fórsa, are due at a crunch meeting on Tuesday to decide whether or not they will endorse the Labour Court recommendation.

Should they not accept the deal, the union is likely to step up current industrial action at the airline, where pilots are currently refusing out of hours work and roster changes in a work to rule.

Ialpa will ballot members in Aer Lingus on the deal once the executive has decided whether or not to recommend the proposal to them.

Capt Mark Tighe, the union’s president said that it would also contact the court to confirm its understanding of some of the recommendation’s points. He added that industrial action would continue.

“The union will ensure pilots are fully apprised of the details of the Labour Court’s recommendation,” he said.

Both sides must agree to accept the Labour Court’s proposal if the dispute is to end, as the court’s recommendation is not binding on either party.

Aer Lingus called on Ialpa/Fórsa to accept the deal and end its industrial action after the airline confirmed its acceptance on Monday.

Ialpa has been seeking 20 per cent-plus pay rises that it says are required to compensate members for inflation.

It argues that the difference between its position and the company’s comes to less than €5 million a year.

Representatives of the company and Ialpa appeared before the Labour Court for more than three hours last Wednesday and more than nine hours the previous Monday July 1st.

The court issued its recommendation this week, along with pay rises, it also boost pilots’ allowances.

It proposes that Aer Lingus increase pilots’ pay by 17.75 per cent over more than three years, beginning with 2 per cent backdated to January 2023 and concluding with a final 1 per cent hike to kick in on July 1st, 2026.

There are eight payments in all, four backdated, which will give them 10.75 per cent by the end of this year, with the remaining 7 per cent paid between January 2025 and July 2026.