Labour Relations Commission to intervene in Aer Lingus Shannon row

The Labour Relations Commission is expected to intervene today in a dispute between Aer Lingus and its cabin crew based at Shannon airport.

The airline announced last week that it planned to close down its cabin crew base at Shannon which employs nearly 90 staff. It said that it considered the facility to to be no longer commercially viable.

Aer Lingus said it had originally planned to expand the Shannon base to facilitate an increase in its trans-Atlantic services. Initially the airline had wanted to use its own cabin crew to work on leased aircraft which would be operating the new services.

However, it said it had not been able to reach agreement with the trade union Impact on cabin crew staffing levels to apply on the aircraft.

Aer Lingus said it had subsequently instructed ACL, one of the companies involved in providing the aircraft and pilots on a leased basis for the expanded trans-Atlantic operation, to recruit cabin crew personnel to allow it to meet its obligations to customers who had booked on the new services comencing in January.

The trade union Impact, which represents cabin crew, last week condemned the decision to close the base at Shannon and said it would fight the move.

The union described the closure as “an act of wanton destruction upon the livelihoods of workers who are loyal to the company, and a potentially vicious blow to the economy of the Shannon region”.

It said there is “still sufficient time to find a way to resolve outstanding issues and reverse the decision”.

The Labour Relations Commission is expected to invite the parties to talks next week.

Separately Impact is due to announce the result of a ballot of cabin crew members on industrial action at Aer Lingus early next week in relation to number of grieviances including rosters as well a s the Shannon issue.