Unions are likely to seek further talks with Aer Lingus after ground and cabin crews rejected pay-rise offers over the last week.
Almost 98 per cent of cabin crew this week voted to reject the airline’s offer of a 4 per cent pay rise next year in a ballot run by their trade union, Fórsa.
The result followed votes last week by ground crew members of Siptu, most of whom also rejected a similar pay rise tied to extra productivity.
Union representatives say it is likely they will restart talks with Aer Lingus as a consequence of the ballots.
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Fórsa official Lisa Connell said it was likely that the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu), under whose auspices the pay talks were held, would contact the airline to reopen discussions.
“I would be of the opinion that we will have to re-engage with the company,” Ms Connell added.
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Siptu officials last week indicated their members’ vote would lead to a reopening of talks.
Ictu began talks earlier this year on behalf of ground and cabin crew and craft unions.
Those groups were seeking to bridge a gap with pilots, who won a 17.75 per cent pay increase from Aer Lingus following industrial action in 2024.
Ground and cabin staff had their own existing pay deals with the company. Each of those agreements had clauses allowing any union to reopen talks if any other group within the airline received larger wage increases not tied to productivity.
Aer Lingus maintains that the pilots’ deal included extra productivity. The company has also pointed out by the end of 2025, ground and cabin crews will have received pay hikes totalling 13.75 per cent over three years.
A further 4 per cent would bring this to 17.75 per cent by midway through 2026.
Fórsa, which recommended that members reject the offer, argues that many cabin crew still have not recovered financially from pay cuts suffered when Government Covid curbs grounded airlines in 2020/21.
The airline’s cabin crew suffered wage reductions of as much as 70 per cent during the pandemic.
