Holidaymakers face potential travel disruption in late June or early July as pilots at Aer Lingus are balloting for industrial action in a dispute over pay.

The Irish Air Lines Pilots’ Association (IALPA) is pursuing a claim for a pay increase. The airline dismissed the action as “entirely unnecessary.”

The ballot follows the rejection by pilots of an Irish Labour Court recommendation that would have increased pilot pay by 9.25%, the union said. The union said it was recommending that members vote in favour of industrial action, “up to and including strike action,” in a vote that will run until June 12th.

Aer Lingus, part of the IAG group, which also owns British Airways and Iberia, said it was surprised that IALPA had initiated the ballot before meeting directly with the airline. In a statement the airline said pilots were looking for a pay increase of 27%.

IALPA said some measures introduced by management during the COVID pandemic have not been reversed. Pilots last received a pay increase in July 2019 while data showed Irish workers on average had received an increase of 24% in that period, the union said. – Reuters