Aer Lingus Flight Crew Industrial relations thread 2024

If this leads to a general strike and improved pay and conditions for everyone it's hard to see the negative in that!

There is a contradiction in terms with the above statement

Work to rule is not starting for another week though………………

If that's the case then it's just actin the bollix. Act within the paremters of what has been outlined.

I'm going to assume them flights have been canx for an operational reason seperate to the WTR, but could well be wrong and indeed what you are stating could be a start of the disruption

That's a matter for discussion for every industrial action. Other union members would support them but equally pilots in other airlines are not in an industrial relations battle with their employer so have no reason to disrupt their business.

It would be more likely that other forsa members within Aer Lingus would not cross the picket.

Is that the case really ? A union is a union …. As you say a discussion but union members passing official union pickets has been known to get backs up

But is this a viluntary request, or an official request to work their days off?. I don't know the answer, is it?

With regards a phone call, they should be able to answer a phone OOO if it is to provide an answer to a question, or provide feedback that may be time critical.

They are very well paid professionals.

For the people on here who have worked @DUB since the 90s, Would remember EI Staff going on strike and the staff at the main roundabout with the SIPTU banners. The people working for Servisair who were in the same union would drive by the EI staff going to work and the roles be reversed when Servisair go out on strike.

I remember this really well as my crowd was a non union company and i would have to drive through both picket lines at the time.

Most of the staff i deal with in both companies knew my hands were tied and i could be out of a job if i didnt carry out my job by passing the picket.

Now when it came to a picket line in a shop or some other place i never crossed the picket line.

Yeah this is all fair enough. There’s no actual strike dates announced so no picketing planned yet but it’s all relatively moot anyway - no staff from other airlines would be expected to also refuse to work in order to not cross a picket and they’d have no legal basis/cover to do so either. EI’s cabin crew might well choose to support the pilots and refuse to cross but it’s not like they’ll have any work to go to anyway. If the pilots strike then the whole op shuts down. There could be a cohort of management pilots who - willingly or not - choose to continue to go to work but it’s hard to predict how that’ll play out now.

@faceman Fair enough, your post suggested you didn't side with the pilots so it seemed to me you probably sided with EI management.

The customer, in any business, is going to suffer during industrial disputes. It's not a step any union takes lightly. It has been almost 20 years since IALPA members at Aer Lingus threatened strike. So I don't agree that unions use the public as pawns in industrial disputes, it's a last resort. It's also their legal right to strike having gone through almost 2 years of fruitless negotiations.

Many people are seeing this dispute as it's being presented by management: Greedy pilots holding the company and customers to ransom looking for an enormous pay rise. They're not aware of the background: Year after year of under crewing, rosters being changed on a weekly basis making planning any home/social life next to impossible. Crewing being so under resourced that the company routinely chance their arm rostering duties that break internal agreements resulting in pilots being on edge having to double check their rosters every week. Text messages and phone calls regularly made to pilots on their days off asking them to work another day off. Overnight allowances that haven't been adjusted for inflation/exchange rates in years despite a requirement to do so. Pay scales opportunistically cut during covid for new joiners and a refusal to reverse that. Unwillingness to negotiate pay increases that reflect the huge increases in cost of living, sticking fervently to the line that everyone in the company gets the same regardless of their role (except management of course).

As for the labour court: I've made my feelings on that clear. They recommended going back to a process that had already failed to produce any progress. 22 months were spent in negotiations. Ultimately I'd say the labour court were trying to avoid industrial action, particularly during peak season, but their interim recommendation has the opposite effect on an exasperated pilot workforce.

if an inbound flight is delayed for whatever reason will the return leg now have to be cancelled because it takes pilots outside of rostered hours?

That depends on the length of the sector and how badly it was delayed. More likely on longer sectors to Greece, canaries etc. but would need to be significantly delayed.

Edit to add: in fact even a short sector is at risk if the pilots have already flown a couple of sectors that day and delays have accumulated.

The pilots would want to get home too I'd presume

Best and most informative post on the thread

Most customers just walk away from a business which can’t deliver for whatever reason. But Aer Lingus and its pilots have their customers by the short and curlies. Especially in the summer which is when we see all these air traffic control strikes. And that’s why we only see strikes in the public sector or similar.

If Aer Lingus mistreats its pilots as you say, there are lots of other airlines looking for pilots.

Why is refusing all overtime called “work to rule” by the media. Does Aer Lingus give contracts to their pilots which do not require overtime?🤨