Around 220 flights have now been cancelled from Wednesday to Sunday due to industrial action being taken by the pilots’ union, affecting more than 30,000 passengers.
Next Saturday,120 flights have been cancelled because of eight hours of strike action by pilots, which will hit 15,000 passengers. This is in addition to the pilots’ open-ended work-to-rule starting on Wednesday.
The dispute centres on a 24pc pay rise being sought by pilots and which Ialpa says is in line with inflation. Aer Lingus has described these demands as unrealistic.
Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week, the pilots’ union president, Mark Tighe, refused to rule out an all-out strike by Ialpa pilots.
Asked whether such action was likely, Mr Tighe said: “Well, it’s certainly a possibility, then it’s a possibility the company may take drastic action, but it’s not being discussed at this moment in time.”
He wouldn’t speculate on what it would take to reach an all-out strike, adding that he hoped the company would “come to its senses”.
Aer Lingus has said it has written to pilots today to request meaningful direct discussions to seek a resolution to the dispute.
In a statement, the airline said it had repeatedly sought to engage directly with Ialpa on ways to increase pilot pay beyond the 12.25pc increase agreed with all other collectively bargained groups, based on reaching agreement on improvements in productivity and flexibility.
It said Ialpa had, to date, refused to enter into those meaningful discussions, and it ended the most recent direct discussions with the company on Monday 17 June.
The airline said it had also asked Ialpa and the Forsa trade union to re-engage with the industrial relations machinery of the State – the Labour Court and the Workplace Relations Commission – but the pilots had rejected this request. Mr Tighe denied both these claims by the company.
The airline has already described the initial work-to-rule as “insidious” and “designed to severely disrupt passengers in the peak of the summer season”, adding that it was “appalled” by the further escalation in strike action.
Mr Tighe said claims by the airline that it had repeatedly sought to engage with the union were “not accurate”.
Mr Tighe said: “We met them last on Monday and we’ve asked repeatedly since then to meet them, most recently the 21st and yesterday the 22nd. The impasse clearly sits with Aer Lingus.”
He also accused Aer Lingus of becoming “very aggressive over the past week”, saying the company had set up a pilot sickness review committee that was not in their agreements and contacted pilots they believe are excessively sick.
Mr Tighe described this as an “outright attack” “designed to intimidate” and said that pilots, under law, cannot be in control of an aircraft if they are sick.
He also said he had received a letter accusing him of “orchestrating an unlawful campaign of industrial action”, describing this assertion as “utterly baseless and false”.
So far, around 220 flights have been cancelled, primarily to city destinations such as Brussels, London, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf and Rome.
