Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I want to express the solidarity of People Before Profit-Solidarity with the Aer Lingus pilots who have begun their action today. These are workers who have not had a pay rise since 2019. The cost-of-living crisis has seen their wages being eroded by at least 24%. They are simply looking for their wages to go back, in real terms, to what they were in 2019. It should be noted that since then, senior executives at Aer Lingus have had pay increases of 66%. Aer Lingus does not like to talk about the enormous profits that are being made in Ireland. Aer Lingus made €225 million last year and its parent group, the International Airlines Group made an incredible €3.5 billion last year. This is a story of corporate greed and corporate profiteering. They can afford to pay their workers a decent wage and they should be pressured to do so.

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