Aer Lingus confirms State-supported pay boost
by Niall Shanahan
 

Aer Lingus has confirmed it will use funds provided under the Taxpayer-funded Employer Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) to increase rostered hours and wages. Staff in the airline have seen their hours and pay cut by up to 60% as the pandemic continues to have a devastating impact on aviation.

 

The company has confirmed that recently-announced changes to the EWSS means Aer Lingus will increase the hours and pay of staff currently on 40% up to 50%, while staff currently on 50% of normal hours and pay will be increased to 60%.

 

The changes will be applied to the next set of published rosters, and reflected in payroll from 18th November. The airline says these arrangements will remain in place for as long as the revised EWSS remains. It’s currently set to continue until the end of next January.

 

The company’s decision to increase wage levels was welcomed by the group of unions representing staff at the airline. Unions had sought clarification as to whether Aer Lingus intended to use the additional monies, provided under the revised EWSS, to increase the pay of members employed at the airline.

 

In a letter to Aer Lingus the group of unions said: “We believe that this is the right decision and the increase in income will be welcomed by our members who continue to be at the loss of significant income as a result of the ongoing public health crisis.”

 

Unions added that they continue to reserve the right to pursue improvements in incomes, and shared the ambition of seeing Aer Lingus recover in 2021 so that pay could be fully restored as soon as possible.

 

The company said it was currently operating at about 20% of normal activity, as the aviation industry continues to hit extremely hard by the collapse in demand for air travel as a result of the pandemic.

 

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