IALPA members have commenced balloting for industrial action in a dispute over pay, following its rejection of the recent Labour Court interim recommendation that would have increased pay by 9.25%.

The ballot opened on Wednesday 5th June and will close at 5pm on Wednesday 12th June.

IALPA is recommending that members vote in favour of industrial action, up to and including strike action.

Captain Mark Tighe, President of IALPA, said that the pay offers given to pilots so far do not reflect the enormous profitability of Aer Lingus.

He said: “In April, the company reported €225 million profit – an increase of 400% on the previous year.

“In addition to this, pilots made huge sacrifices in their pay and working conditions during the pandemic to save the company. However, management failed to reverse many of these measures, which include lower pay scales for new entrants, while they report bumper profits.

“It is vital that all pilots in the airline receive equal pay for equal work, new pilots in Aer Lingus earn up to 10% less pay than pilots who were employed in Aer Lingus 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.”

Captain Tighe concluded: “Aer Lingus pilots last received a pay increase in July 2019. The CSO last week published data which showed that Irish workers on average received a pay increase of 24% since that time.

“IALPA is seeking a pay increase of 23.8% over three years which is clearly reasonable and affordable for a profitable company such as Aer Lingus."

There’s never been a better time to join a union, and it’s never been easier. Join Fórsa today.