Aer Lingus avoids total disruption, but at a cost
However a combination of Wednesday’s bad weather and yesterday’s 24-hour stoppage saw hundreds of passengers suffer delays as 19 flights were cancelled.
Over 200 stranded passengers were accommodated in Dublin hotels on Wednesday night and 450 were housed in Clare and Limerick at an estimated cost of €30,000. On Wednesday the company block booked 11 hotels in the Shannon region, including 45 rooms in the five-star Dromoland Castle hotel near Ennis, Co Clare.
But despite the rising costs of maintaining its flight schedules and accommodating stranded travellers, Aer Lingus still refused last night to disclose how much yesterday’s dispute had cost them.
Chief operations officer Seamus Kearney rejected IMPACT claims that yesterday’s dispute cost the company more than €1m, which the union says would have been better spent on granting cabin crews the pay rise they were due.
Mr Kearney said they had no choice but to hire extra planes and crews.
“The alternative was we would have been left with in excess of 20,000 passengers left with nowhere to go today and that’s not acceptable.”
The dispute centres around an overdue 4% pay rise due under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, in return for which Aer Lingus wants crews to cut turnaround times in half. However crews argue that the move would result in them losing money even if the 4% pay rise is granted.
IMPACT’s cabin crew representative, Christina Carney, said staff had simply reached breaking point. “We have given up so much we are like elastic bands and finally we had to snap. Something had to give.”
“We’ve always said to the company that we’re prepared to enter discussions on this matter to try and reach agreement on its implementation. The company want to impose it. They don’t want to talk to us.”
Labour Court chairman Finbar Flood, who is said to be angered that IMPACT ignored his request to postpone the strike, is to release his recommendations shortly in a move that could prevent the stoppage planned for Monday.
IMPACT says that it will reconsider its position in view of the findings of the court.
However, it was uncertain last night if the recommendations would be released in time to prevent further industrial action.
