Aer Lingus Flight Crew Industrial relations thread 2024

Why are BA pilots even being discussed? They have nothing to do with this.

IALPA saying they have moved from the 23% figure but that EI hasn't moved on anything more than 12.25% being funded by productivity changes. Which IALPA says it doesn't have a mandate from its members to discuss productivity as part of it's pay claim.

IALPA also claiming that from EI's costings the union see a figure of around €5 million as the stumbling block.

Still said that the talks have been pleasant and that both sides are able to sit down with each other.

On the escalation front,

"Mr Tighe also claimed that Aer Lingus had contravened the Labour Court’s request earlier this week for both sides not to escalate the dispute by denying a Captain access to an executive lounge and also by insisting that they will renegotiate all the collective agreements.

He said that if the union refuses to this, the company has said it will use its right to legally terminate those agreements.

Mr Tighe said the executive council of IALPA would now meet to consider the situation.

He said in view of the escalations by the company, the chances of an escalation of the industrial action by the pilots would have to be considered to be high."

There appears to be no room for optimism whatsoever judging by the article on RTE. Both sides are in the “no surrender” camp. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is an all out strike before this one is settled. The sooner it starts the better. Get this thing over with.

Aspects of it are sounding a bit petty - eg a captain being denied access to an Executive lounge and then the union making a big deal of it. Doesn't bode well.

Gangsters? That's a bit harsh over the last 5 years people in my place have got more or less 20/24% In pay increases along with there increments. I have friends who work in other private sector companies that don't have the T&C that i have etc like pension/health care etc.They don't begrudge me for what i get paid which is extremely generous

What can the government do though? Facilitate talks?

Government can't step in and take sides.

They can't force IAG to pay the pilots extra. They can't stop the pilots striking.

Gone on, tell us.

Those other airlines have voted in similar pay rises yes, but from a lower basepoint and working conditions.

For example- You say easyJet have gotten a rise in the low 20%. But this was based off Captains at the top earning c£160,000 before the increase. They also don't have a 22% employer contribution to a pension.

BA, similar pay increase, and senior Captains were on c£170,000 short haul and c£200,000 long haul at the top before the increase.

Keeping the sterling figures the same for comparison, Aer Lingus senior captains at the top, are currently earning c£240,000, without a pay increase.

So the pay rises agreed by BA and easyJet merely bring them up to what Aer Lingus pilots are already on (in the case of BA, and still lower than that in the case of easyJet).

The union (understandably) doesn't want benefits such as a 22% annual employer pension contribution taken away. So it'll be a tough balance between ensuring that is maintained, while negotiating something higher than 12.5%.

I've said it before and say it again. Settle on 15%, with 2.5% in 2025 and 2.5% in 2026 with productivity ironed out for that in the coming weeks and move on. This will be resolved eventually, just get it done. And enough of the petty stuff like parking, staff flights and lounges. This isn't junior infants ffs.

There isn't a lot the Government can do, despite the ritual (and disingenuous) Opposition calls for them to get involved. The SF spokesperson who has called for that is a former trade union official and would be intimately familiar with how industrial relations works. Anyway, it is fair to assume that behind the scenes Govt. have been making plenty of calls to relevant people to see if they can prompt some progress. The fact that the Labour Court didn't deem it feasible for it to get involved at this stage suggests that there are too many obstacles. The bit today about IALPA not having a mandate to discuss certain isses is a clear limitation, and unless the negotiating team are some sort of "prisoners" of the membership they need, at some point, to be allowed sufficient latitude to negotiate a deal. Anything else is doomed to failure and makes for an unsolvable dispute.

You’re unaware of the Aer Lingus short haul scale introduced during covid?

Already mentioned above but as per ppjn the top end for 320C is drastically reduced and is not close to any of those base salary figures quoted.

According to the EI spokesman, IALPA say they have no mandate to discuss the productivity stuff.

Tbf what element of extra productivity can there be? The pilots going work to rule has resulted in a ton of cancellations so that would show they're already being extremely productive

yes

Can someone in the know explain what IAG are looking for under the umbrella of “productivity”?