Pilots in Ryanair have lodged a pay claim with the Labour Relations Commission in an attempt to bring their salaries closer to their Aer Lingus counterparts.
The pilots claim Ryanair's bid to take over Aer Lingus strengthens their case for a closer alignment of pay and conditions.
The pay claim was rejected by the company last month according to the IMPACT trade union.
Its officials have now lodged the claim with the LRC under the Industrial Relations Act which permits the Labour Court to set terms and conditions where companies do not engage in collective bargaining.
IMPACT officials claimed there were significant differences in take home pay between Ryanair and Aer Lingus pilots.
Michael Landers also claimed that Ryanair training pilots were working for nothing.
Speaking this evening in response to the IMPACT statement, Ryanair said: "The jurisdiction of the LRC under the 2004 Industrial Relations Act (for high pay multi nationals like Ryanair) is currently the subject of Supreme Court proceedings.
''This is just the first of (what we are sure will be) many feeble attempts by Impact to distract from Ryanair's generous offer for Aer Lingus, which if it proceeds will lead to lower costs and lower fares for Aer Lingus customers.
''In any event most Ryanair pilots would have to take a pay cut to align themselves with their equivalent opposite numbers in Aer Lingus ".
