Aer Lingus pilots will work-to-rule from June 26

Aer Lingus typically carries in excess of 40,000 passengers per day during the summer months. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

Aer Lingus pilots have served notice on the airline of their intention to go on indefinite work-to-rule from Wednesday, June 26.

It’s understood that the widely expected move was made late on Tuesday afternoon, and gives Aer Lingus one day more than the statutory minimum to prepare a contingency plan.

Aer Lingus typically carries in excess of 40,000 passengers per day during the summer months. Strikes could spell chaos for the airline industry across the continent ahead of the peak summer weeks.

The work-to-rule, which means the pilots will not do any overtime or out of hours duties requested by management, is set to begin from a minute past midnight on Wednesday, June 26.

The Irish Air Line Pilots' Association (IALPA) and the airline have been at loggerheads over a new pay deal for pilots, with the union seeking the equivalent of a 23.8% hike, which is at variance with a Labour Court recommendation made last month for a 9.5% raise.

President of IALPA Mark Tighe said the dispute had come “a point where this dispute has escalated to indefinite industrial action by pilots”.

“We are in this position because management have failed to provide us with a meaningful offer on pay that accounts for inflation and the sacrifices made by pilots to save Aer Lingus during the pandemic,” he said.

Aer Lingus meanwhile countered that the decision to take action “was entirely unnecessary”, adding that the period of work-to-rule, though less severe than a full strike, would nevertheless “inevitably result in significant disruption to our customers and to other employees”.

“Aer Lingus will do everything possible to minimise the disruption to customers, but unfortunately a significant level of disruption is inevitable,” the airline said in a statement.

IALPA said that the work-to-rule would involve:

• No employee working overtime or any other out-of-hours duties;
• Employees only working published rosters and not accepting any amendments;
• Not logging into Aer Lingus’ online staff portal or taking phone calls outside of work hours.

Mr Tighe added: “Management keep insisting that pilots must sell their working conditions in exchange for any increase in pay. We are absolutely not prepared to do that, especially when Aer Lingus is making enormous profits.

Aer Lingus countered that its own profitability levels are “the lowest in the IAG (International Airlines Group) group with operating margin significantly lower than pre-covid levels”.

“Investment of such profits in paying exorbitant increases to already very well-paid pilots is simplistic in the extreme,” it said.

The acrimonious relationship between the union and the airline was exacerbated by Aer Lingus’s decision to question the validity of last week’s digital ballot to take industrial action, a question supported by 98% of pilots, IALPA said.

In the wake of that challenge, the union held a paper ballot last weekend in Dublin and Cork, with the support rate reflected in the result even more overwhelming, with 99% of pilots voting to take action.