Aer Lingus pilots to vote this week on deal over pay dispute

Aer Lingus pilots are likely to have completed voting on interim Labour Court proposals meant to broker a deal with the airline in a dispute over pay by about the end of this week. The court last week recommended that Irish Airline Pilots Association (Ialpa) accept pay increases totalling 9.25% and that the pair restart talks on deadlocked issues at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC). Ialpa’s executive recommended that members reject the proposal in a ballot due to start on Tuesday. A result is likely around the end of the week. The pilots’ trade union maintains that the Labour Court proposals fail to resolve core issues affecting its members, but says they will ultimately decide if Ialpa should accept the recommendations. Aer Lingus said on Friday that it accepted the recommendation and would look to take the interim steps that it set out. A crunch issue between the pair is calculating the cost of extra summer leave flexibility for pilots that Ialpa agreed with Aer Lingus in 2019, the Labour Court’s recommendation indicates.<br/>