Aer Lingus passengers face more uncertainty as pilots’ pay deal stalls

The Aer Lingus pilots pay dispute is set to continue after members of the Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association (Ialpa) failed to make a decision on the Labour Court recommendations.

The association's executive met on Tuesday to consider the proposed 17.75 per cent wage rise, and increase to the overnight allowance.

While it had been expected Ialpa, a member of the Fórsa trade union, would recommend their members accept the proposals from the Labour Court, they proved some commentators wrong when they failed to reach a decision.

Ialpa said afterwards that officials would wait for the court to confirm several points in the deal before meeting again to decide whether to call on members to vote for it in a ballot.

Capt Mark Tighe, Ialpa’s president, said the organisation had written to the Labour Court asking it to confirm that the officials’ understanding of some of its terms were correct. “We hope to have a response soon,” he added.

If they decide to recommend the deal, the union will then hold approximately five days of meetings in an effort to consult every pilot concerned.

After that comes an electronic ballot which runs over three days – and only then might there be a resolution.

Should they not accept the deal, Ialpa is likely to step up current industrial action at the airline, where pilots are refusing out-of-hours work and roster changes in a work to rule.

Aer Lingus did not comment on Tuesday. It has cancelled 548 flights up to next Sunday, July 14th, to preserve as many services as possible during the pilots’ work to rule, which began two weeks ago.