Aer Lingus Cancels Further 34 Flights

Aer Lingus has cancelled 34 flights between Dublin and the UK and other parts of Europe today, due to continuing staff disputes.

The part state owned carrier said an estimated 2,700 people will be affected and the company would be sending notification by SMS text messages and email.

Aer Lingus said it sincerely regretted the cancellations and that the sole responsibility for the disruption to customers' travel plans lied with Impact trade union members who "continue to take industrial action despite 15 months of negotiation, agreement, clarification, conciliation and binding arbitration".

The company confirmed that 82 cabin crew have now been suspended in the row over new rosters.

Meanwhile, the IMPACT trade union said on Thursday that it had asked the Labour Court to intervene to resolve the escalating dispute.

The ongoing row over new rosters at Aer Lingus has prompted the cancellation of over 40 flights in total this week.

The airline announced on Tuesday night that some 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 and are expected to face the same sanctions.

The Aer Lingus flights cancelled can be found at www.aerlingus.com/knowbeforeyoufly

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,” said the spokesperson.

The union spokesman added 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.

"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 said.

In a statement released on Wednesday 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)