Aer Lingus will enter talks with Irish trade union Impact today (Friday January 28) in a bid to end a work to rule by cabin crew that has led to the cancellation of one in 10 flights over the past two weeks.
The Dublin-based carrier has suspended more than 200 crew for refusing to work new rosters that the union says are “anti-family”.
Aer Lingus cancelled 12 flights yesterday, including one UK service – between Birmingham and Dublin. There were no cancellations at Gatwick or Heathrow and the carrier reported its long-haul operations at Dublin and Shannon continue to operate as normal.
The talks follow the intervention of the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC) and Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), which jointly invited the two sides to meet.
Aer Lingus is seeking cost savings worth €97 million and has won cabin crew agreement to increasing their annual flying hours to 850. However, trade union members have not agreed the changes to rosters imposed to achieve the new hours.
These include double shifts and changes of up to three hours on the day of duty. Impact argues this “makes it impossible to plan and undertake family responsibilities”. Crew began a work to rule on January 17, since when Aer Lingus has progressively suspended staff for refusing to work the rosters.
The airline has pledged to restrict cancellations to short-haul routes on which it flies several times a day and has hired at least nine aircraft and crew from other airlines, including Ryanair, in an effort to break the union’s action.
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary suspended regular newspaper advertisements mocking Aer Lingus last weekend, saying: “Defeating Impact’s disruption is more important to us.” The budget carrier owns almost 30% of Aer Lingus which it has twice tried to buy but been thwarted by competition authorities.
Aer Lingus flies from Gatwick, Heathrow, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and Belfast in the UK and will launch from another six UK airports in March. Passengers are advised to check the status of flights on www.aerlingus.com prior to departing for the airport.