Aer Lingus Cancellations Follow Roster Row

The ongoing row over new rosters at Aer Lingus has prompted the cancellation of some ten flights from Dublin - affecting over 1,000 passengers.

While the Aer Lingus hub at Belfast International remains unaffected - as crew there are on a different contract than their colleagues in the Irish Republic - some of the passengers hit by the problems in Dublin will have travelled from Northern Ireland to catch their flight.

The part-State owned flier announced last night that 32 cabin crew personnel had been "removed from the payroll" for refusing to work to new rosters, which it introduced on Monday.

Another 50 other cabin crew staff who have refused to work under the new rosters have been summoned to management meetings today and could face the same sanctions.

The Aer Lingus flights cancelled today are: EI 650 Dublin to Frankfurt and EI 651 Frankfurt to Dublin; EI 582 Dublin to Malaga and EI 583 Malaga to Dublin; EI 594 Dublin to Madrid and EI 595 Madrid to Dublin; EI 606 Dublin to Amsterdam and EI 607 Amsterdam to Dublin; and EI 176 Dublin to London Heathrow and EI 177 London Heathrow to Dublin.

A spokesperson for the IMPACT trade union, which is representing many of the workers, said the disruption to flights was being caused by management's decision to take its own staff off duties.

"Our members are reporting for work but the company is telling them to go home. The airline is operating exactly the same schedule this week as it was last week when cabin crew were working in the same way as they are willing to work today," said the spokesperson.

The union spokesman said that the imposed roster changes were not part of the LRC finding issued last year, which says that roster changes must be agreed or referred for arbitration, which can be binding.

IMPACT also said cabin crew have already agreed and implemented most elements of the disputed agreement including pay cuts, staff reductions, longer working hours, changed working practices, and substantially increased flying hours as part of overall working time.

"Average flying hours have already increased from just over 700 a year to around 830 a year. The dispute is over how to increase that to the 850 hours agreed in the Greenfield Agreement," the spokesman added.

In a statement released this morning by the union, a number of the key problems staff had with the new rosters included:

• All meal breaks removed from European flights meaning cabin crew can work shifts of up to 11 hours with no meal break.
• Double shifts where staff must work on flights out and back from a destination twice in a day meaning a working day of up to 11 hours
• Duties can be changed by three hours on the day of duty. Eg: Staff can come to work on a 7am flight and be told they are on a different flight departing up to three hours later and finish three hours later than rostered.
• The removal of the right to request one weekend off duty every eight weeks
• The minimum of eight rostered days off per month reduced to seven.
• Rest periods on transatlantic flights halved from 24 to 12 hours meaning staff can do the outward flight to destinations like New York and then work the flight back to Ireland that evening.

(DW/GK)