Aer Lingus and IALPA have been invited by the Labour Court to attend separate meetings regarding the pilot pay dispute and both have accepted
Despite the court’s intervention, industrial action is still set to begin on Wednesday
Aer Lingus has confirmed the cancellation of at least 220 flights from Wednesday to Sunday, following a previously announced 124 cancellations due to a work-to-rule
The Minister for Enterprise, Trade, and Employment Peter Burke has called for both sides to sit down for talks to resolve the dispute: ‘ee need de-escalation here. I’m always of the view that every single industrial relations dispute is resolved one way or another. “And the key thing, the key mechanism to do that is for both parties to get around a table and work out their differences in a very safe space because that’s what the WRC (Workplace Relations Commission) provides. It’s a very safe space for both sides to work out their differences.”
Donal Moriarty of Aer Lingus said there could be close in cancellations caused by pilot availability. He said Saturday will see a particularly large number of cancellations due to strike action and huge efforts have been made to accommodate passengers who have been disrupted to date. Of 35,000 passengers disrupted, we’ve managed to re-accommodate or refund or rebook 80pc of those and we’re looking to do the same with the remaining passengers. So the disruption will be significant.
