Aer Lingus deal brokered by Labour Court

In April 2001, a successful intervention by the Irish Labour Court produced a set of acceptable proposals which averted further industrial action by members of the SIPTU trade union at the state-owned airline, Aer Lingus. The SIPTU members had sought to catch up with improved pay and conditions previously awarded to cabin crew organised in the IMPACT union.

Further industrial action at the state-owned airline, Aer Lingus, was averted on 10 April 2001 following a successful intervention by the Labour Court. The dispute involved over 3,000 operative and clerical workers, members of the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union (SIPTU), who were seeking to "catch up" with the pay and conditions of most Aer Lingus cabin crew - formerly members of SIPTU - now organised in the rival Irish Municipal, Public and Civil Trade Union (IMPACT) (IE0011223N).

Earlier in 2001, the IMPACT cabin crew had settled with the company after engaging in two separate one-day stoppages which grounded the airline's fleet. Following that deal, SIPTU lodged claims on behalf of its operative and clerical members on the basis that they should be treated the same as the cabin crew. SIPTU, despite losing the vast majority of its former cabin crew members to IMPACT, still represents a minority of cabin crew.

The SIPTU claim on behalf of its operative and clerical members was based on the application of the increased differential payments secured by cabin crew, a new pay scale and a facility to retire between 55 to 60 years of age. Following the Labour Court intervention, SIPTU's national officer, Noel Dowling, said that the union had achieved 90% of what it wanted, although it was unable to secure a 15-point wage scale.

The successful Court intervention came after the SIPTU operatives and clerical workers had also staged two one-day stoppages. As in the case of the earlier cabin crew stoppages, these one-day actions also succeeded in grounding the airline.

In a dramatic move following the strike, the Aer Lingus board announced cuts in overtime, a review of all costs and a halt to recruitment, pending an assessment of its staffing requirements. The company also announced that it had lost around IEP 2 million for each day that industrial action occurred. The cost of of the pay settlements and similar agreements with other groups are set to push up the company's annual paybill by around IEP 30 million. Aer Lingus made a profit of just over IEP 50 million in 2000.