Pilots and board ‘to talk into night’ to end dispute

AER LINGUS pilots and management are to work into the night tonight to try to reach some accommodation aimed at stopping further strike action threats by the pilots.

Both sides come before the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) today on the back of an announcement yesterday that, not only are profits down at the airline for the first six months of this year, but also that last week’s aborted strike action by the pilots cost it €3.5 million even though practically all flights took off as planned.

Aer Lingus chief executive Dermot Mannion said: “Everyone associated with this process realises that a cost of €3.5m for a strike that did not actually take place is a very substantial imposition on the company. It is not in anyone’s best interest, it’s not in the company’s, it is certainly not in the pilots’ or indeed any other staff, so in that sense we are very hopeful that when we go back to the LRC tomorrow, this will be resolved.”

The trade unions are, like the company, prepared to engage in long discussions today. However, it issued a sharp reminder to the company that if the talks break down at any point, industrial action could be back on very quickly.

At the heart of the negotiations remains the disharmony over pilot entitlements on both sides of the border.

IMPACT and the Irish Airline Pilots Association (IALPA) are still adamant Belfast pilots should get the same entitlements as their counterparts in the south.

The company, unwilling to talk about Belfast, is only discussing the impact on staff in the south, whose terms and conditions are about to be undermined anyway under cost-saving measures, which it wants implemented across all areas of the airline.

While the 12% increase in staff costs to €150m announced yesterday can be partially offset against an extra 220 personnel employed for its new long-haul flights, the airline claims there are still a number of unacceptable financial burdens placed upon it by outdated terms and conditions for existing staff.

Mr Mannion said of the staff cost increases: “What that points to is the absolute need now to close out on all the efficiency initiatives that have been ongoing with all of the unions, the pilots, the cabin crew and the ground staff in recent weeks.”

That means he wants to implement as soon as possible the controversial Programme for Continuous Improvement 2007.

The airline will want to get negotiations with the pilots out of the way today because as early as next Tuesday it must respond to Ryanair’s demand for an extraordinary general meeting of the shareholders, of which it is the largest.

Mr Mannion said: “We have committed to inform our shareholders of our definitive position by next Tuesday which we are required to do — to respond 21 days after the initial request for the EGM.

“We have put our shareholders on notice that the board firmly and strongly believes that there are tremendous anti-competitive issues associated with these resolutions and if they were passed we believe they would damage shareholder value going forward.”

He accused Ryanair of being anti-competitive and not acting in the best interests of shareholders.