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LAST UPDATE | 6 Jun 2024
PILOTS IN AER Lingus who are members of the Irish Air Lines Pilots’ Association (IALPA) have begun voting on industrial action due to a pay dispute.
The ballot, which opened yesterday afternoon and will close at 5pm on 12 June, follows pilots rejecting a Labour Court recommendation that would have increased pay by 9.25%.
However, Aer Lingus has said that the ballot is “entirely unnecessary”.
The IALPA is seeking a pay increase of 23.8% over three years, which it says is “clearly reasonable and affordable for a profitable company such as Aer Lingus.”
In 2023, Aer Lingus had a full year operating profit of €225 million.
This was a 400% increase on 2022, when a full year operating profit of €45 million was recorded.
The IALPA has recommended that members vote in favour of industrial action, up to and including strike action.
IALPA president Captain Mark Tighe said that pay offers given to pilots “do not reflect the enormous profitability of Aer Lingus”.
Tighe added that “pilots made huge sacrifices in their pay and working conditions during the pandemic to save the company” but that “management failed to reverse many of these measures, which include lower pay scales for new entrants”.
He also remarked that all pilots in Aer Lingus must receive “equal pay for equal work” and said that new pilots in Aer Lingus “earn up to 10% less pay than pilots who were employed prior to the pandemic”.
“Any new pay deal needs to account for the loss of real earnings due to inflation and to bring Aer Lingus pilots’ pay up to the rates of competitor airlines,” said Tighe.
He also remarked that the last time Aer Lingus pilots received a pay increase was in July 2019, and pointed to CSO data showing that Irish workers on average have received hourly pay increases of 24% since that time.
In a statement to The Journal, an Aer Lingus spokesperson said the company is “surprised” that the IALPA “commenced this ballot before they met directly with the airline”.
The spokesperson said a meeting was being arranged but had not yet taken place.
The spokesperson also remarked that commencing a ballot is “disruptive to the airline’s customers and other employees” and that the IALPA has “rejected the outcomes of multiple independent processes which have sought to resolve the issue”.
It was further remarked by the spokesperson that Aer Lingus pilots are “already very well paid”, that the IALPA had sought an “effective increase in pay of 27%”, and that the ballot “risks jobs in the airline into the future”.
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Fairplay to them, they do a really difficult job and deserve to be compensated fairly.
I wish my pay was increased by 9.25%!
@Stephen Heffernan: go on strike
@Stephen Heffernan: Become a pilot!
@another one? what’s going on is the semi state sec: become an influencer! :V
@Stephen Heffernan: Are you not in a trade union?we’ve got 11%the last 2 years.
If I’m getting into a metal can to propel through the stratosphere at a thousand kilometres per hour, I want to know my pilot is well trained, well paid, happy in their job, well rested and ready to save us all if things go wrong.
On the face of it looking for 23% pay seems extreme but if they haven’t received an increase since 2019 whilst the average pay has increased by 24% since then, this seems very reasonable.
The average pilot , despite there somewhat swaggering exterior ,is very much capable of love , affection, intimacy and caring….
These feelings just don’t involve anyone else .
@larry smith: they are very cold. They make me nervous flying as our lives are in their hands and sometimes they crash the planes on purpose.
@Sean Money: I never knew that! In fact, I still don’t.
@Luan Willis: the recent German pilot for example
These lads make hundreds of thousands a year so they do. They should be happy with their lot.
@Sean Money: Untrue but so is most everything that you whine about on this site.
@Jack Hayes: they are rich folk
I really really wish there was more support for aspiring pilots. But many flight academy places in Ireland (and abroad) charge the equivalent of several house mortgage deposits combined. I really don’t understand how you are supposed to become one when it’s virtually impossible without either rich parents or taking out an insanely huge load while having no life at all.
Look up it’s cunni Lingus
have your say