Aer Lingus/FA's Dispute

[ACheck]

From ATW. I'm wondering about the "lunchbreaks on shorthaul flights". As well they oppose working 850 block hours a year...that's only 70.8 per month! That is lower than most airlines.

Aer Lingus on Tuesday was again forced to cancel several flights as cabin crew who are members of the IMPACT union maintained their refusal to accept new duty rosters. The rosters were introduced last week as part of the carrier’s objective of increasing the cabin’s crew overall working time to 850 block hours a year.
Last week EI chartered up to nine aircraft, including four from Ryanair, to limit the level of flights disruptions resulting from the escalating dispute. According to Irish media, more than 175 of the airline's 1,050 cabin crew have been removed from the payroll for refusing to operate new rosters.
IMPACT argues that the introduction of the new rosters is not part of the carrier’s so-called Greenfield restructuring plan that was outlined in October 2009 by its newly appointed CEO Christoph Mueller. Project Greenfield aims to reduce annual operating costs, excluding fuel, by €97 million ($132 million) before the end of this year and remove “legacy” practices from its operations. After difficult negotiations, IMPACT accepted in early 2010 the requirement to increase flying hours to 850 a year but it insists that its members “did not vote to accept the roster changes imposed by management” last week.
The union opposes the elimination of mid-flight lunch breaks on shorthaul flights as well as the fact that the new rules require staff members to alter their work schedules by up to three hours at short notice.

[juan23]

As bad as the Irish economy is.....never been worse, 80000 expected to emmigrate in the coming 12 months, and as bad as the air travel buisness has become, and with the rising cost of oil bound to make it a lot worse. This $%&*#%# union and its half ass flight attendants are willing to make it so much worse for all involved. Every one of them should be fired! now

There are more than enough unemployed in Dublin capable of wiping up vomit and bringing overpriced drinks to those that can still afford it who would jump at the oppertunity of a stedy income.

#$%@ em!

[Shanwick]

As bad as the Irish economy is.....never been worse, 80000 expected to emmigrate in the coming 12 months, and as bad as the air travel buisness has become, and with the rising cost of oil bound to make it a lot worse. This $%&*#%# union and its half ass flight attendants are willing to make it so much worse for all involved. Every one of them should be fired! now

There are more than enough unemployed in Dublin capable of wiping up vomit and bringing overpriced drinks to those that can still afford it who would jump at the oppertunity of a stedy income.

#$%@ em!

Very strong sentiments Juan.I presume you are aware of ALL the facts involved in this dispute if not you should keep your powder dry.
Sure there are a lot of people in financial trouble in Ireland at the moment but that does not mean that we have to take the lowest common denominator re.employment conditions and start a race to the bottom.

P.s. I have nothing to do with Aer Lingus nor any of my friends or relations.

[juan23]

I don't know if I have all the facts but I think I have enough, and I've watched EI go downhill since the late eighties, when all Ryanair had was EI-BPI !

No you shouldn't take the lowest on offer nor should you be exploited, nor should you steer your employer, down the toilet.
Unions have destroyed what was once an airline to be proud of with a thriving maintenance business, and a reputation for good on time service. Yes there have been some bad management decisions and a bad economy to go with it. but now is not the time for Mr. shop steward to be mouthin off, now is a time for compromise, save the airline first, then re-negotiate, not to push the company to a point where everybody loses. Its almost to that point where it should be scrapped. And maybe that would be for the best, let O'Leary do the long haul!

[MCM]

Juan,

Unilateral management decisions to change working practices of their employees is what is to blame.

F/A's were not demanding pay rises, or better working conditions... they are trying to prevent management imposing changes that have not been negotiated with its employees.

Management types do this all the time, and are surprised when people react!

I don't know what you do for a living, but lets say you work in an office.

Your average CC will work for upto 12 hours a day, so you are in your office from 9am till 9pm... some days you work 5am until 1pm, some 11pm till 11pm. During you day you have a few coffee breaks and a lunch break. (What cc. get as a "lunch break" is somewhat different to yours btw). You have done this day in day out for the last 5 years.

Now, unilaterally, your employer has decided that in that 12 hours, your lunch break has been removed and you will work solidly for that time. Also, they've decided that they can now extend your duty day without any prior notice, so any child care, family arrangements are useless.

Would you be upset by that? I sure would be! Especially if they have decided it with no consultation, and no negotiation.

As an aside - its always interesting to see how much of a pay and conditions cut the board and management accepted prior to going hard at the crew.

As has been said - this is a race to the bottom if crew don't stand up and say enough is enough. Cabin Crew and Pilots are now quickly becoming poorly paid for the time they have to spend away from home. Your comments about sacking them and hiring others for lower wages is so typical of those that demand the lowest airfare and are happy to have their crew being the lowest muppet they can find.

Why can't people give some support to people trying to earn a living, (not even a particularly highly paid one), and not just back the CEO's who are trying to get rich from screwing over employees?

[juan23]

I agree with your sentiments, and normally I would support the worker against the management, but ask yourself this, why dont the pilots and their union supportthe FA's or why dont the ticket agents or the bag handlers? Why? because their outa line thats why!

[ACheck]

An Update: 07Feb (Sorry I'm a couple of days behind on my emails)

Aer Lingus confirmed Friday that it reached a successful conclusion to its industrial dispute with the IMPACT cabin crew union on the “full implementation of the Greenfield plan, including changes in [flight attendant work] rosters to deliver 850 annual flying hours” (ATW Daily News, Jan. 31).
The airline said it provided to the union “clarification on a number of issues relating to work-life balance.” El said in a statement, “We will now be directing all efforts to restore the full Aer Lingus flight schedule.”

[juan23]

So the union finally agree to do what they had previously agreed to do! what a bunch of wankers

[Shanwick]

So the union finally agree to do what they had previously agreed to do! what a bunch of wankers

D'ont let the FACTS get in in the way of a good rant Juan.

Quote from RTE
"The Aer Lingus dispute over cabin crew rosters that led to hundreds of flights being cancelled has been resolved.
Arbitrator Kieran Mulvey issued a final and binding arbitration this evening.
Cabin crew union IMPACT says the ruling has removed anti-family measures from new rosters imposed by management last month.
The three-week dispute disrupted travel plans for thousands of passengers and over 300 staff were removed from the payroll.
IMPACT said most of cabin crew's problems with the new rosters had been completely resolved, while satisfactory compromises had been reached on the rest.
It said the industrial peace commitment will prevent management from imposing unacceptable changes in future.
Aer Lingus said it was happy to have reached agreement and was confident that it would secure the 850 flying hours a year that it had sought from cabin crew."
To now quote you again

So the union finally agree to do what they had previously agreed to do

You see only the 850 flying hours had been agreed not the rest that was imposed by Herr Mueller he who along with others drove Sabena into oblivion.
Aer Lingus unions were ridiculous in the past but quiet a lot has changed since then.