LAST UPDATE | 1 Jul
AER LINGUS AND the pilots’ union engaged in ongoing industrial action are continuing late into the night as part of efforts hoped to avert further travel disruption amid the busy summer holiday period.
The Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association (IALPA) were in the middle of discussions around the possibility of escalating their industrial action when the invite was issued.
The meeting began at around 2.30pm this afternoon and are still on going.
Earlier, reporters and photographers outside the venue saw IALPA members and negotiators return to the court after a short break with refreshments – insinuating the talks were to continue into the night.
Both sides had blamed the other for prolonging the stand-off that has led to almost 400 flights being cancelled and disrupted tens of thousands of passengers’ travel plans.
On previous hearings, the Labour Court dismissed the parties as a resolution could not be made.
However, after the ramping up of industrial action at the weekend – in the form of an eight-hour strike on Saturday – the court invited both parties back to mediate the debate. This is the longest mediation talks have continued out of all sessions so far.
On his way into talks, the airline’s chief corporate affairs officer Donal Moriarty said the meetings would be challenging.
“This dispute is causing significant financial and reputational damage to Aer Lingus and it’s impacting negatively on everyone that’s connected with the company, including our passengers,” he said.
“So we’ve no doubt that the engagement today in the Labour Court will be challenging, but we’re willing to engage in that meaningfully.”
Moriarty added: “We’ve always been willing to engage in meaningful discussion and negotiation and we will continue that approach in the Labour Court today.”
An indefinite work-to-rule began on Wednesday, with pilots now refusing to work overtime, accept changes to set rosters, or take on out-of-hours management requests.
All-out strike action also took place on Saturday between 5am and 1pm.
Across the Atlantic, pilots in Boston, Orlando and Seattle formed pickets in support of Aer Lingus pilots. Those who participated are members of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA).
Close to 400 flights have been cancelled so far, with tens of thousands of passengers impacted.
On Friday, Aer Lingus announced it was cancelling a further 122 flights and said it had taken this action to “protect as many services as possible”.
Details of the services impacted are set out on the ‘Travel Advisory’ page of the Aer Lingus website, and communication is sent to affected customers.
Impacted customers will be given the option to change their flights for free or can claim a refund or voucher.
Aer Lingus said it “fully understands the anxiety being experienced by customers given the uncertainty caused by IALPA’s industrial action” and that it is “giving impacted customers as many options as possible”.
Talks have been ongoing for close to two years between Aer Lingus and IALPA, with IALPA previously rejecting a Labour Court recommendation that would have increased pay by 9.25%.
IALPA is seeking a pay increase of 23.8% over three years, which it says is “clearly reasonable and affordable for a profitable company such as Aer Lingus.”
The union noted that in 2023, Aer Lingus had a full year operating profit of €225 million.
This was a 400% increase on 2022, when a full year operating profit of €45 million was recorded.
However, Aer Lingus has said it is willing to offer pay increases of 12.5% or above if “improvements in productivity and flexibility” are discussed.
Both IALPA and Aer Lingus attended separate meetings with the Labour Court last Tuesday, but the Court said it would not be intervening at this time and would review the matter in July.
Speaking on Saturday, IALPA president Mark Tighe said he was not aware whether they would be in the same room or not, as previous meetings had seen management and pilots hold discussions separately.
Aer Lingus meanwhile welcomed the Labour Court invitation and expressed “hope” that today’s engagement in the court “can result in an outcome that will bring normality to the travelling public”.
Speaking before last week’s unsuccessful Labour Court meeting where talks eventually broke down, Taoiseach Simon Harris urged both to “engage” rather than “put people through agony and chaos”.
He said there would be “very little sympathy and support for anybody who puts the travelling public through utter chaos” if they are not “engaging intensively”.
-With additional reporting from Press Association and Muiris O’Cearbhaill
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