Pilots at Emerald Airlines, the carrier which holds the regional franchise for Aer Lingus, are continuing their rolling industrial action on the airline in response to an ongoing trade dispute.

The union is in dispute with the airline over their failure to engage with IALPA on forming a collective labour agreement for pilots employed at Emerald, despite continuing efforts by the union. The pilots are members of IALPA, the professional association which represents pilots within Ireland, and a branch of Fórsa trade union.

Members commenced a rolling and strict work to rule last Saturday (24^th June), which includes actions such as refusal to work overtime. To date, a number of flights have cancelled due to the action.

Fórsa official Ian McDonnell said that pilots within the airline have repeatedly shown great flexibility to keep aircrafts flying by working their days off to ensure flights were not cancelled, but that flexibility has now ceased.

“This flexibility has not recognised by the management team and pilots have withdrawn their flexibility of working on their days off to accommodate the airlines staffing issues as an official work to rule,” he said.

Ian said that the union remains available for meaningful and solution-focused engagement, but warned that action will be escalated if the airline does not engage.

“Fórsa and IALPA representatives are willing to commence talks with Emerald management at anytime, as has always been our position.

Unfortunately, Emerald management have ignored repeated requests to meet with an aim to commence discussion on negotiating a collection agreement for pilots in the airline. If the airline continues to ignore these requests, we will have no choice but to escalate the dispute, increasing industrial action,” he said.  

IALPA officer Daniel Langan said pilots were surprised at Emerald’s refusal to engage with the union.

“Other airlines that previously refused to engage with unions are now happy to negotiate with them to achieve the certainty and stability of a collective labour agreement. Emerald’s position suggests it’s currently out of touch on how best to sustainably establish terms and conditions for its employees in a highly competitive labour market. The employer’s refusal to engage is why this action is now necessary,” he said.

Emerald Airlines operates regional flights, including the public service obligation Dublin to Donegal service on behalf of Aer Lingus. Emerald also operates UK provincial routes including Bristol, Birmingham and Edinburgh, trading as Aer Lingus Regional.

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