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CABIN CREW AT Aer Lingus have voted 75% to 25% to reject proposals that would see sweeping changes in their working conditions.
Trade union Fórsa, which represents workers at the airline, said that the result – on an 82% turnout – was a vindication of the decision to bring the issue to a ballot.
Aer Lingus had already withdrawn the proposals after it said that the trade unions representing staff had failed to meet a deadline for acceptance.
On Friday, the airline announced that there would be 500 jobs lost at Aer Lingus as a result of the impact of Covid-19.
The company said the Covid-19 pandemic is having a “catastrophic effect on the aviation industry”.
“A company like Aer Lingus, which is currently receiving hundreds of thousands of euro from the public purse, should be ashamed of its treatment of staff across the airline,” a Fórsa spokesperson said.
“Cabin crew and all the company’s employees understand the difficulties that Aer Lingus and the entire aviation industry is going through. They want to play their part in helping the airline through this period, but they are being treated with disdain by their management,” they added.
The union said that the ballot demonstrated “the need for a new approach from the company, and a new engagement between the airline and its unions”.
The Aer Lingus proposals would have seen reforms for non-pilot grades, which staff said would have left many “in significant debt” to the airline.
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“A company like Aer Lingus, which is currently receiving hundreds of thousands of euro from the public purse, should be ashamed of its treatment of staff across the airline,”
Genuine question: what money is this representative talking about? I understood that iag has not taken bailouts?
@Wreck Tangle: So the public should continue to fund a private company? If there is no work there is no work, That is business.
@Robert Nugent:
Did you even read my post.. I asked a question??
@Wreck Tangle: flying to Beijing for PPE
@Wreck Tangle: @Wreck Tangle: they are taking money from the public purse. Those employees on 50% pay are being topped up with the Covid payment.
@Jason Healy:
I’m not sure if this is serious or a joke but in either case it made me laugh out loud. Possibly referring to wage subsidy? Which is a garbage point as it is open to all employers.
Excessive dividends and buy back schemes exposed other airlines over night, who then needed billions from governments. Aer Lingus and Ryanair have (relative to many of their competitors) performed quite well throughout this crisis.
@Nomad:
Thanks for clarifying. Clinging at straws if that’s all they have.
@Robert Nugent: there’s 1.5 million people receiving some kind of payment from the state at the moment
@Wreck Tangle: they are flying to China to pick up PPE on behalf of the HSE. That and covid payment. Can’t see them flying to China for nothing. There is still a couple of flights a week on the same mission.
@Robert Nugent: Yip, don’t see private companies paying dividends to the general public when things are going well!!!
@D’oh: spot on
@D’oh: hmm , big airlines like IAG have major investors that own their stock – they will be called on to invest billions to steer the business through difficulties – the same ones that get paid the dividends on their shares when things go well – public can buy shares in these business if they wish – but hey don’t let the actual facts of how things work get in the way of your ill informed rant.
@Jason Healy:
They’re making about €100,000 on those flights. That’d barely pay for the lease on the planes
@Sequoia: who told you that?
Working conditions? What work?
@David Walters: Exactly
@David Walters: who you talking about, Tds.
@Robert Nugent: It’s about time that people started to stand up and demand decent working contracts while companies make millions. The media largely encourages this lowering of working conditions. Employees rights are going back in time while companies profits in general are soaring. IAG are just using this an opportunity to deteriorate their employees conditions
@Robert Nugent: Simple comments by simple people. Is planes not going to fly again? Ryanair and the medias hero O’Leary had no issues taking loans from the Irish and UK government while he was laying off employees.
@David Walters: We could be seeing the collapse of the airline, they are playing with fire…..it means nothing for IAG to pull the plug they are a private company…..they are not in the public purse now, its in the real world with the rest of us.
@David Walters: Exactly so why is it the cabin crew are being cut back and not the pilots, don’t respond with the skill set, the engineers are being targeted as well, it takes a lot longer to learn how to fix a plane than to fly one. I’m really looking forward to your response on this.
FORSA lost their game of chicken with Aer Lingus…. negotiators have questions to answer as they failed to interpret to situation correctly and Aer Lingus weren’t bluffing
@Kevin50: Playing chicken in a no hope situation…..airlines all over the world going bust and we have a ex public sector mindset thinking they can force this…..this could end really really badly.
Th pilots will vote separately. They know they can’t dump the pilots out of the organization and replace them quickly. They will give them a better deal.
They can dump the other staff and start to slowly recruit a cheaper workforce. In the long run they’ll be in a way better financial situation.
Take a bow Willie Walsh. He’s retiring soon so he’ll put all this in place and when the new man steps in they’ll stand blameless. A large number of their ex workforce will be financially crippled and Aer Lingus won’t give a damn. They’ll point at the share price and that’s all they care about.
@Niall Bourke: This is not the public sector with a blank cheque…..this is the private sector and we are in a massive crises…..things could get real very fast I don’t think the staff realise what could happen here at all.
@Peter Hughes: The average cabin crew member in Aer Lingus is paid €472 per week before tax. Willie wants that cut by 30%. That leaves them on €330 a week. People get €200 a week on social welfare and get rent allowance. They won’t be worse off.
The staff realise what’s happening. Every time we see Aer Lingus staff in the paper it’s more cuts and more changes to work patterns. This time it looks like they can’t give any more. They can’t survive on his terms anymore so perhaps they’re at the point where they’d happily let it fail.
This seems to be a group wide initiative by IAG. Listened to an interview with Willie Walsh last week in the UK where the same is happening with BA. If it’s happening to them it’s happening to Iberia and vueling Aswell while IAG are still buying up airlines around Europe. Blame covid-19 whilst culling excess staff. Governments can’t intervene because IAG are not looking for bailouts.
@Jason Healy: you saying IAG employees income isn’t being subsidised?
@Whoswho: I never said that. Subsidising wages because of covid-19 is not a bailout. Bailouts normally have to be paid back.
@Jason Healy: yep , thats what happens when Governments sell their stakes in national airlines – like the irish govt did with Aer Lingus – they get the cash and relieved of any responsibilities in how the business is run. I cannot understand why people have such difficulty understanding how business works at this stage – the Govt do not own these airlines so of course they ‘cannot get involved’ . Aer Lingus is not a state owned airline anymore .
@Dave Hammond: it was actually a very clever more by IAG not asking for a bailout like Lufthansa or air France. You don’t see them culling staff numbers.
@Jason Healy: Lufthansa are due to lay off 22,000 staff across their group of airlines and air France Are talking about over 8,000 cuts. That’s on top of getting government bailouts. Even though Lufthansa are struggling with shareholders over the bailout.
Imagine a deal where your company tells you that they will pay 50% pay even if there are only 30% hours. But that will want that money back. Imagine that most of the low paid workers are only getting paid subsidy scheme from the taxpayer whether that is at 30% or 50% . They are not getting a cent from Aer Lingus. The only people getting a top up payment from the company are higher paid earners where the subsidy payment does not cover the full 30% or 50% . Now imagine telling those lower paid workers that tgeg will have to pay back any overpayments to their colleagues even though they didnt get a cent themselves. That is what the company wanted. Employees didnt want to be in debt to a company like aer lingus. I dont blame them
How much does this private company have in reserve?
@padar: £9.1BN plus access to investor funds ranging at about £5bn
@Tony Stanley:
IAG Plc, Aer Lingus owner, may have had those kind of funds to hand at start of lockdown but disappearing fast with all subsidiaries in Group now losing money hand over fist due to ongoing ravages of covid19.
Reports recently of Dub / Boston flight carrying 20 passengers unfortunately doesn’t auger well for all stakeholders in Aer Lingus.
Recovery in sector to pre covid levels will take years, if not decades, so cloth needs to be cut to measure.
Many €100 m planes to be parked up, with underlying massive debt to be serviced & not a red cent of income nor prospect of an asset sale, given overhang in global market.
Frightening prospect for a sector that was booming only 7 mths ago, with no hint anywhere then of what was in prospect.
Unbelievable what has happened.
Give the workers shares and they have a say in the company
Landers and IMPCT sold out workers years ago. No point in crying now FORSA, you let Aer Lingus destroy workers and moral a long time ago. The 25% who voted to loose thier conditions and jobs must be FORSA lackies. Fools
The proposal was withdrawn by aerlingus so in effect the union was balloting on noting…
Aer lingus becoming more like Ryanair now with their staff policies
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