Aer Lingus ground staff vote to accept 8.5% pay rise

A majority of Aer Lingus ground staff voted on Friday to accept a Labour Court recommendation that the airline's workers get an 8.5 per cent pay rise over 39 months.

Trade union Siptu, which represents 1,500 non-craft workers at Aer Lingus, confirmed on Friday that they had voted by 53 per cent to 47 per cent to accept the recommendation in a ballot.

The group includes staff such as baggage handlers, cleaners, boarding and checking staff, and office workers, in Cork, Dublin and Shannon airports.

Siptu official Neil McGowan said the vote concluded a 12-month process involving local negotiations, the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court.

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“The result of this ballot is only a first step towards improving our members’ terms and conditions of employment at the airline,” he said.

He added that restructuring implemented by Siptu members had resulted in Aer Lingus posting significant profits.

“It is now time that our members were provided with their fair share of these significant profits,” Mr McGowan stressed.

Aircraft engineers represented by Siptu, Unite and the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union accepted the proposals late on Friday by 66 per cent to 34 per cent.