Staff warn Aer Lingus on roster talks

Aer Lingus cabin crew protesting outside the country’s three main airports said they hope they will not have to take to the picket-line again this summer — but warned they would if next week’s talks over their rosters are not successful.

“We would apologise profusely to our passengers,” said Lisette Von Raesfeldt, who operates out of the airline’s Cork base. “We really hope the disruption will not continue, this is really not where we want to be. We want to be back in the aircraft first thing tomorrow morning.”

Ms Von Raesfeldt was one of dozens of crew who picketed at a roundabout leading into Cork Airport throughout yesterday, accompanied by a number of pilots who joined the protest in support. She said rosters at the company are “completely erratic”.

“Currently, we work six days on, we can have one day off, we can come back in for four or five days again. It is totally unsustainable,” she said. “We can work 10 or 12 hour shifts without a meal break. If you are rostered for that kind of duty consecutively for five days, does it mean you need to reach your day off before you can sit down and have a proper meal, a free-of-duty meal break?”

The cabin crew want similar rosters to pilots, five days on and three days off.

“They (the pilots) work harder in those five days. It doesn’t generate the 32 extra days per year that the company are throwing out to the media,” she said. “We are saying ‘roster us evenly.’ They will still get the same productivity from us.”

Recently married, her husband also has shift-work, and she might not see him for days.

“For me, I worry about the prospect of ever bringing a family into this lifestyle I currently hold. Reaching your front door at 4am to be reporting on duty at 3pm the next day to take another 10 or 12 hour shift. That has a cumulative effect. Over time it really wears you out.”

The simultaneous picket in Dublin involved nearly 1,000 cabin crew, approximately 900 of whom marched from the airport to Aer Lingus headquarters to hand in a protest letter.

Aer Lingus’s director of communications Declan Kearney insisted yesterday’s strike should never have happened.

“Aer Lingus cabin crew enjoy some of the most favourable working conditions in Ireland,” he said. “Changes to working conditions such as rosters should be agreed in an orderly and responsible manner and our paying customers should not be used as leverage by Impact (cabin crew union) in their negotiations.”

Meanwhile, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary last night called for David Begg of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, to resign as a non executive director of Aer Lingus. Ryanair said it had written to Aer Lingus chairman, Colm Barrington, to ask why the board and management of the airline had failed to tackle the issues during the quieter winter period and what sanctions would be imposed against striking cabin crew, in order to prevent a repetition of the disruption to customers.