Aer Lingus considers further cancellations as pay negotiations underway at employment tribunal – The Irish Times

Aer Lingus is considering further cancellations as negotiations over its pilots’ pay dispute move to the employment tribunal.

Management and representatives of the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association (Ialpa) met at the court on Monday afternoon to try to resolve the dispute.

Ahead of the meeting, Donal Moriarty, Aer Lingus’ director of corporate affairs, confirmed the carrier was assessing the need to cancel further flights after Sunday July 7, as it continues to battle pilot industrial action .

He said the company would make a decision on the matter later this week.

Ialpa president Captain Mark Tighe warned that if negotiations at the employment tribunal failed the union would have no choice but to step up industrial action.

Members of the Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association (Ialpa), part of the Fórsa union, stopped work for eight hours on Saturday and are continuing their work to monitor the carrier.

The labour court has invited both sides to Monday’s meeting as Ialpa considers further strikes after negotiations to resolve the dispute failed the previous day.

They will meet again Monday afternoon. Both said they hoped what will be the court’s third attempt to reach a resolution would be successful.

Ialpa chairman Captain Mark Tighe warned at the weekend that escalating industrial action was on the table if negotiations with the employment tribunal failed.

Saturday’s strike affected around 17,000 passengers whose flights were cancelled by Aer Lingus before the shutdown.

The airline canceled 392 flights through Sunday to “preserve as many services as possible” during the pilots’ strike, affecting the travel plans of 60,000 to 70,000 people.

The pilots are demanding pay rises of 20% or more to compensate for inflation over the past four years, saying that this is only €5 million more per year than what the company has offered.

Aer Lingus says it cannot give pilots pay rises above the 12.25 per cent agreed with cabin and ground crew without greater productivity.

Ialpa in January rejected an offer worth 12.25 percent, reduced to 8.5 percent, to pay for flexible summer holidays.

Subsequent discussions at the Workplace Relations Commission and the Employment Tribunal failed to reach an agreement.

Ialpa members stopped work between 5 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday, when around 500 of them demonstrated and picketed Dublin Airport.

Captain Tighe later warned that Aer Lingus and the employment tribunal must accept that the union’s pay claim was reasonable.