Result due on second Aer Lingus pilot strike ballot

The result of a ballot of Aer Lingus pilots on possible strike action will be announced later today.

Pilots at Aer Lingus have been voting for a second time on whether they want to take strike action in support of a 24 per cent pay claim after the company raised a legal issue about the original process last week.

The carrier has warned of the potential for significant disruption and a “devastating impact” on customers and families over the summer holiday season.

The Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association (Ialpa) announced last Wednesday that a first ballot, conducted electronically, had returned a 98 per cent vote in favour of industrial action up to and including strike action, with 98 per cent of those who were eligible to vote participating.

On Friday morning, however, the airline said it had “queried the validity of Ialpa conducting a ballot for industrial action via electronic means, having regard to the statutory requirements for secrecy and the provisions of the Ialpa constitution”.

That came after talks between the company and the union in the wake of the ballot result broke down on Thursday with the company reporting a lack of “meaningful” progress and a refusal on Ialpa’s part to return to the Workplace Relations Commission.

Confirming on Friday that the airline’s solicitors had written raising concerns over the conduct of the original ballot, Ialpa said it had decided to run another ballot, this time on paper. Voting opened almost immediately at the union’s Woodford offices and Fórsa’s base in Cork. Voting concludes this morning at 11am.

In the event of Ialpa’s executive deciding to proceed with work stoppages, it would be required to give the airline at least seven days’ notice.

The potential scale of the disruption any action might cause would generally be seen as a key element of the union’s bargaining position.

The airline has argued that the pay increases being sought by the pilots are “unsustainable”.

The pilots have rejected a Labour Court recommendation that they accept pay hikes totalling 9.25 per cent and return to negotiations with management over deadlocked issues.