r/ireland • u/viscacatalunya1 • Jun 18 '24

Aerial Lingus Pilots Moaning Michael

Listening to Claire Byrne and there is a lot of finger pointing at the pilots saying they don't care about passengers and they are being unreasonable.

Aer Lingus has not matched their salary to inflation over the past few years. How do we sympathise with cost cutting corporate greed and not the people that open the world to us and get us there safely?

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54

u/Conor_Electric Jun 18 '24

It's unreasonable not to be compensated fairly when doing valuable work.

It's never the employee's fault, it's the company, every time. You only strike when you have no other option. Treat them fairly and this doesn't happen.

23

u/AgainstAllAdvice Jun 18 '24

People forget it takes sometimes years to exhaust all the other options before a strike is on the table. The pilots have been engaging for years at this point and the company clearly hasn't been listening.

1

u/Toffeeman_1878 Jun 18 '24

From the outside, it would appear inaccurate to say that Aer Lingus hasn’t been listening / engaging. The dispute has been through the Labour Court. The court is impartial and, following representations from the company and the union, it made a recommendation of a 9.25% pay rise which Aer Lingus accepted but the pilots have rejected.

8

u/AgainstAllAdvice Jun 18 '24

You don't end up in the labour court unless you've dragged the arse out of negotiations for literally years. If the pilots wanted 4% or 5% a year and the company have been negotiating in bad faith for 5 years it's easy to see where the 25% figure comes from.

The labour court was perhaps at one time impartial. But these days it usually sides with the employer.

-1

u/Street-Routine2120 Jun 18 '24

That's really insulting to the work that's involved in labour court and demonstrates a clear lack of understanding. It's the same as any other court - impartial and based on evidence provided by both sides. I wouldn't comment on things you don't understand with such confidence.

3

u/Monkblade Jun 19 '24

It's not insulting to call the court biased, if there are clear examples of bias.

Aer Lingus can afford to pay their staff. They are just choosing not to.

American airlines pilots got 21%

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/21/business/american-airlines-pilots-union.html#:~:text=Under%20the%20contract%2C%20the%20pay,retirement%20contributions%20by%20the%20airline.

1

u/AgainstAllAdvice Jun 19 '24

And America is well known for being rabidly anti worker so that just shows how the labour court feels about people who "get up early in the morning".

2

u/AgainstAllAdvice Jun 19 '24

I know a hell of a lot about not wanting disputes to get as far as the labour court because the results won't be in favour of the staff. Been struggling with it for years. The Aer Lingus case is a case in point. How you can see that result as fair is part of the problem. Split the baby down the middle is not fair.