The Irish Airline Pilots Association (IALPA) has said that industrial action at Aer Lingus is due to go ahead from tomorrow.
It follows the conclusion of separate meetings at the Labour Court today attended by IALPA and Aer Lingus management.
IALPA members will begin an indefinite work-to-rule from midnight, with an 8-hour strike planned for Saturday.
Leaving the meeting this evening, IALPA President Captain Mark Tighe said they had updated the Labour Court on its position and that after a lengthy conversation, the court will now consider what it learned today.
Tomorrow’s planned industrial action will go ahead, he said, and that a resolution on pay would be needed to call it off.
“The actions continue as have been notified and will continue until there’s a resolution,” Captain Tighe said.
He added that, for the action to be called off, management would need to see the merits of their pay claim.
Further 50 flights cancelled
Aer Lingus has announced a further 50 flight cancellations for Monday and Tuesday of next week as a result of industrial action by pilots.
Speaking as he left a meeting at the Labour Court, Donal Moriarty, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Aer Lingus said the total number of flight cancellations has now risen to 270.
“It’s clear that the impact of the dispute is ongoing and impactful,” Mr Moriarty said.
“We had to cancel another 50 flights today for Monday 1 July and Tuesday 2 July, in order to protect as many of our services from being impacted by the ongoing industrial action.
“And that will continue unless there is a resolution found. So we will be hopeful that today’s developments and developments over the coming days may help in that regard,” he added.
Mr Moriarty described the meeting at the Labour Court as constructive, he added that the court will now form an assessment and will be in contact with both sides in due course.
Earlier, the Taoiseach called on Aer Lingus and IALPA to “engage intensively” at the Labour Court in a bid to avoid “utter chaos” for air passengers.
Simon Harris said he welcomes the decision of the two sides to accept the invitation to the meetings.
Speaking on his way into a meeting of the Cabinet this morning, Mr Harris said his challenge to the parties now is to “bring that engagement forward, rather than putting people through a prolonged period of agony and chaos and then engaging in the end anyway”.
Mr Harris said there now needs to be “compromise, engagement and sitting around a table”. The Taoiseach urged both sides to “dig deep”.
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“There will be very little sympathy and very little support for anybody who puts the traveling public through utter chaos, who results in families having their summer holidays cancelled, who disrupts the tourism sector in our economy, if they’re not engaging and engaging intensively and really that’s what needs to happen,” added Mr Harris.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin said he hopes the engagement at the Labour Court will “lead to a pathway to a resolution” of the row and “relieve the anxiety and stress that thousands and thousands of people are feeling at the moment in respect of proposal industrial action”.
He said there is “an urgent necessity” to resolve the dispute.
Planned pilot action ‘awful’ for customers
Aer Lingus Chief Executive Lynne Embleton said the planned industrial action by pilots is awful for the airline’s customers.
Arriving at the Labour Court this morning, Ms Embleton said the action is already hurting passengers.
“We have people on weddings, we have people on family holidays, we have the Taylor Swift fans so this is all awful for all of them,” Ms Embleton said.
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“Let’s hope we can make some progress,” she added.
The Aer Lingus CEO said they are really pleased that the Labour Court has stepped in.
“We’ve been open for talks, direct talks with IALPA, or through the WRC or through the Labour Court and of course, when we were last here, we accepted the recommendation of the Labour Court, as we had with the pilot tribunal before that,” Ms Embleton said.
“So we are hoping that we can make some progress,” she added.
The airline had issued a fresh invite to IALPA for direct talks but the union said it would not re-enter negotiations that came with preconditions around flexibility and productivity.
IALPA said that the 24% increase it is seeking is based on cumulative inflation over recent years and that its members should not have to pay for their pay increase by agreeing to work practice changes.
On Sunday, each side in the pay dispute accused the other of refusing to meaningfully engage.
‘Difficult to see how dispute can be resolved’
The Director General of the International Air Transport Association said it is difficult to see how the pay row at Aer Lingus can be resolved and the dispute will cause significant reputational and financial damage to the airline.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Willie Walsh said he would struggle to have sympathy for pilots and seeking a 24% pay increase is “way out of line” with anything he has seen before.
The former Aer Lingus boss said he believes productivity will have to make up part of any pay discussions.
He said that management at Aer Lingus has little room to manoeuvre and absolutely cannot afford to meet the pay demands of pilots.
To do so would impact on future financial performance at the airline and seriously seriously damage any future investment in it, Mr Walsh said.
He added that pay increases for pilots would have a spiral effect as other staff members seek similar treatment.
Mr Walsh said Aer Lingus was significantly weakened during the pandemic and has been “clawing its way back since then”.
However, its performance has been weak compared to other companies in IAG, Mr Walsh said, and the situation is very risky for the airline.
He said IAG may withhold investment for Aer Lingus and look to dispose of some aircraft that were meant to go to the airline.
“I think the situation is very, very risky and I’m sure all of the employees in Aer Lingus watching what’s going on will be deeply concerned, not just for the impact that it’s having on customers, but also for the potential impact that it could have on the future of the airline,” he said.
Mr Walsh pointed out that IAG was structured in a way that each airline in the group had to stand on its own two feet and justify investment.
Other airlines, particularly the Spanish ones, have recovered far more strongly than Aer Lingus, he said, and he believes IAG will be “looking away from Aer Lingus” as it considers future investment.
He added that he did not believe that pilots in other airlines belonging to AIG have received pay increases of up to 50%.
The Chief Executive of the Irish Travel Agents Association urged both sides in the dispute to put the customer at the centre of their agenda and approach talks with a view to finding a resolution.
Speaking on the same programme, Clare Dunne said travel agents around the country have worked to accommodate passengers since they first received lists of cancelled flights last week.
Most customers have now been re-booked or refunded, she said.
However, no one knows what is going to happen from tomorrow when the work to rule comes into effect, Ms Dunne added.
She warned that without an agreement there may be more cancellations and delays to come.
Additional reporting: Fergal O’Brien
