Aer Lingus pilots urged to reject Labour Court's pay recommendation

The executive of the union representing pilots at Aer Lingus has unanimously rejected an interim Labour Court recommendation aimed at resolving a long-running wage dispute between the airline and its pilots.

The rejection came following a meeting of the Irish Airline Pilots Association (IALPA) executive to consider the proposals.

"The Labour Court recommendation will be put to a ballot of IALPA members in the coming days with a recommendation from the IALPA Executive that it be rejected," the union said.

The court recommended that the pilots should receive pay increases totalling 9.25% as part of an interim proposal to resolve a long-running wage dispute.

The figure is well below the 23.8% that the pilots had been seeking.

The industrial relations dispute arbiter has proposed that the 800 pilots receive a 2% increase from January 1 of last year, 1.75% from July 1 of 2023, 2% from October 1 of 2023 and 3.5% with effect from January 1 of this year.

However, the increases would not include a "debt" that both parties agree results from changes to leave rosters and other arrangements that arise from a crewing agreement struck several years ago.

The Labour Court says that debt should form part of a final agreement around the dispute.

The court has also recommended the continuation of engagement, with the assistance of the Workplace Relations Commission, on all matters in dispute with a view to reaching overall agreement.

It said that engagement should be concluded by the end of August.

"In the event of a failure to find overall agreement with the assistance of the WRC, outstanding matters to be referred again to the Court for a final and definitive recommendation," the interim recommendation said.

The court has also recommended that the parties recognise that the scope of the agreement which they have been pursuing through various fora since December of 2022 is beyond their capacity at this time.

It says the "continuing failure to secure comprehensive agreement has the potential to become a point of dispute in itself."

The Labour Court also recommends that a fresh and stabilising approach is required which would allow continuing dialogue against a reasonable platform of wage growth across the period to date.

"The parties before the Court have a long history of constructive engagement and have demonstrated a capacity to achieve collective agreement between them on matters giving rise to disputation over many years," the court said.

"It is a matter of concern to the Court that the extensive engagement between the parties in relation to the matters now before the Court has not resulted in any discernible indication of understanding by the parties that the resolution of the trade dispute will require the exercise of pragmatism, realism and common sense in order to identify a position that has the potential to be accepted by both," it stated.

"The emphasis of the submissions made by the parties to the Court has been to highlight the significant difference between the parties as regards almost all matters in dispute," it added.

In a statement, Aer Lingus said it has reviewed the interim recommendation.

"We note the challenges that the Court has outlined which prevented it from issuing a final and definitive recommendation on the issues before the Court," it said.

"Aer Lingus accepts the content of the recommendation that was issued and will look to take the interim steps outlined within it. Aer Lingus looks forward to re-engaging on the issues in the WRC as recommended by the Court," the airline added.

The pilots had been seeking four increases totalling 23.8% covering the period from November 2022 to March of next year, although it is understood that the airline considers the real cost to be around 27% when the crewing agreement is factored in.

Unions representing other workers at Aer Lingus have already agreed a deal that will see their wages rise by a total of 12.25% over five tranches from January of last year to January of next year.

That deal also includes a one-off payment equivalent to 1.5% of pay to be made in October 2024.

As well as pay, the pilots dispute also involves issues around the 2019 crewing agreement, overnight allowances and the structure of pay scales.

Prior to the matter being referred to the Labour Court, the dispute was the subject of a recommendation from the Pilot Pay Tribunal which was rejected by the pilots.

Conciliation at the WRC followed, but ultimately proved unsuccessful.

It was subsequently referred to the court in March and two hearings took place last month.

The dispute has led to delays in the delivery of Aer Lingus's first Airbus A321XLR, which parent IAG has now allocated to another airline in the group.