Ireland

Give me a crash course in . . .

... the Aer Lingus dispute

Ciarán Hancock's face
Ciarán Hancock
Sat Jan 22 2011 - 00:00

. . . the Aer Lingus dispute

What is the dispute between Aer Lingus and its cabin crew all about?Aer Lingus wants more than 1,000 cabin crew to work 850 hours a year on new rosters as part of a company-wide plan to save €90 million a year. But cabin crew have resisted the changes in spite voting in favour of them in March last year. Their trade union, Impact, argues that the rosters are not family-friendly and say they could be reconfigured to achieve the same outcome for the airline. Aer Lingus rejects this. This dispute has been rumbling for 15 months, and Aer Lingus this week began removing from its payroll cabin crew who refused to co-operate with the new rosters.

What's wrong with working 850 hours a year?This is actual flying time. It equates to 17.7 hours of flying time a week, based on four weeks of annual leave. But crew are also involved in safety briefings and with preparing aircraft for flights. And crew work unsocial hours and weekends.

Why has it come to a head this week?Having got the busy Christmas period out of the way, Aer Lingus has decided to put it up to staff by removing more than 100 cabin crew from the payroll in what is usually a quiet month for the airline.

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What are the chances of my flight being cancelled?This is possible, so it's best to confirm your flight beforehand. On Thursday, 34 short-haul flights were cancelled, disrupting 2,700 passengers. This was the worst day of disruption this week. Aer Lingus has hired in aircraft from other airlines, including arch rival Ryanair, to plug the gaps in its schedule and try to minimise the disruption to passengers. But disruption is still likely as the dispute escalates.

How will it be resolved?That's not clear. Impact has referred the dispute to the Labour Court, but Aer Lingus has shown no interest so far in further arbitration. The union has also taken the dispute to the Equality Tribunal, claiming discrimination on the grounds that the new rosters are anti-family.

When is it likely to end?Nobody wants a prolonged dispute, as consumers will start booking with other airlines. But there's no obvious resolution in sight. Fasten your seat belts: this could be a long-haul dispute.