Aer Lingus cabin crew are currently balloting for industrial action. The ballot closes at noon on Wednesday 30^th October.

The decision to ballot came shortly after management at the airline announced it would outsource cabin crew services on a new, more frequent, transatlantic route from next January. But the ballot has been provoked by management’s attitude and behaviour on a number of issues, which have made the working lives of Aer Lingus cabin crew increasingly difficult in recent years.

Rosters

Cabin crew rosters have become increasingly difficult, with published rosters continually subject to radical changes leaving crew with little certainty over their working hours or home lives. While some flexibility over rosters is necessary in the industry, onerous shift patterns and changing rosters have become systematic. As a result, work patterns forced upon cabin crew have become unsustainable. This makes it impossible for crew to manage non-work responsibilities and can compromise their health and wellbeing. It has become clear to the union that management is unwilling to address or resolve cabin crew concerns on this issue through normal industrial relations channels.

Breach of agreements

Management is habitually breaching existing agreements reached following negotiation between management and staff representatives and ballots of cabin crew. One recent example was the use of Belfast crew on services out of Dublin, which is in breach of the Belfast Base agreement, which only stopped after IMPACT intervened. Agreements on additional meal services and hotels have also been breached.

Green book

Management interpretations of the ‘Green Book’, which governs all aspects of roster patterns, frequently go beyond anything agreed with IMPACT. The company has failed to respond to a detailed IMPACT proposal (last December) for an independent third party adjudication mechanism to deal with disputes over interpretation. This is despite repeated commitments to IMPACT and the Labour Relations Commission that it would do so.

Greenfield review

The Labour Relations Commission (LRC) brokered review of the Greenfield/dispute settlement has been ongoing since April 2012. However, management has cancelled and postponed a number of meetings and refuses to even table a position on many issues. The union has been forced to conclude that the company has no intention of making progress on this review despite commitments made at the LRC.

The company has also slowed all other industrial relations procedures to a halt. It has become clear that the normal system of processing industrial relations issues affecting cabin crew has been effectively abandoned by management.

Outsourcing

Management issued an ultimatum to the cabin crew branch that there would be just four cabin crew per flight on the new transatlantic service, despite the fact that industry standard on 757 aircraft is usually five or six. Management refused to discuss this with the union, and last week laid off 30 trainees who were recruited largely to operate the flights out of Shannon, demonstrating a willingness to toy with peoples livelihoods to make its point.

If unchecked, the move to outsource may lead management to believe it can outsource other cabin crew duties in the future. It’s just one of several issues where management has applied coercive pressure on cabin crew.

Flexible

Cabin crew have proved themselves to be flexible and reasonable in meeting the demands and challenges of a tough industry, particularly over the last twelve years, as the global aviation industry has gone through enormous changes. Together with other Aer Lingus staff, cabin crew have created a quality and profitable airline in extremely difficult circumstances. But it is possible to deliver flexibility and profitability and still maintain decent working conditions and respect for staff and their representatives.

Information meetings are taking place throughout the ballot period, and the ballot closes on Wednesday, 30^th October at noon.