Aer Lingus accepts the Labour Court recommendation of a 17.5% pay rise to end the dispute

Aer Lingus has accepted the Labour Courts recommendations after a review, in an attempt to end the dispute with pilots, which has seen the airline cancel 548 flights affecting the travel plans of about 82,000 passengers, since June 26.

Irish Airline Pilots Association (Ialpa) will meet to discuss the proposal, at some point within the next 24 hours. in preparation for the ballot

IALPA President Captain Mark Tighe said “Once we have confirmation of our understanding, the executive will then be able to make a decision as to whether to recommend acceptance or rejection,”

Once IALPA decides on its recommendation  an electronic ballot will be conducted.

The union will also hold a members’ meetings allowing any questions that pilots may have to be answered.

The labour court made a number of recommendations including the

pay increases as per the following breakdown

• 2% with effect from 1st January 2023
• 1.75% with effect from 1st July 2023
• 2% with effect from 1st October 2023
• 3.5% with effect from 1st January 2024
• 1.5% with effect from 1st October 2024
• 3% with effect from 1st January 2025.
• 3% with effect from 1st January 2026
• 1% with effect from 1st July 2026

This agreement also sees 2022 pay scales terminates and that all Aer Lingus pilots are payed to a single pay scale, from the date of acceptance.

the labour court also recommended that the overnight allowance be increased by 10% with effect from the date of acceptance of the recommendation, and then by a further 5% with effect from 1 October 2025.

Last year’s recommendation of  12.25pc increase in consolidated pay and a 1.5pc rise in unconsolidated pay, was rejected. So to was the 9.25pc interim pay increase to the pilots from May this year. This second rejection by the trade union was noted by the court.

“It is to be assumed that pay, exclusive of pay growth arising from the application of increments, regularly lagged inflation over the decades also,” the recommendation notes.