AER LINGUS members of the Irish Air Line Pilots' Association will hold a meeting tomorrow week to decide on whether to ballot for strike action. The pilots are in dispute over a 17 per cent pay increase, which was recommended by an independent pay review tribunal.
The association has released the text of a letter sent by Capt Dermot Rafferty, chairman of the Aer Lingus group of pilots, to the company's chief executive, Mr Gary McGann. Capt Rafferty accused management of acting cynically in trying to undermine public confidence in the integrity of the pay review procedure.
He wrote: ". . the attitude and behaviour of the Aer Lingus side to this agreed and mutually established process has on many occasions been appalling, unworthy of any organisation, much less a leading company in the semi-state sector". He added: "This behaviour has been wrong in itself, is contrary to all government guidelines, and has also caused great distress to the members of this association."
He claimed Aer Lingus management is attempting to undermine the credibility of the pay review. Senior management, he claimed, has shown disregard for modern industrial relations practice and a lack of concern for the airline's long-term development.
An Aer Lingus spokesman said yesterday the company would not comment on the contents of Capt Rafferty's letter because it would not involve itself in "megaphone politics" or a re-run of the pay review tribunal's findings. The findings, the spokesman said, were fatally flawed because "by its own admission" the tribunal did not consider all the facts.
The spokesman said a 17 per cent pay increase for pilots would undermine the viability of Aer Lingus and would, in effect, wipe out the cost savings achieved in this area under the Cahill rescue plan.