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AS PASSENGERS FACE the prospect of more strikes, Aer Lingus and trade union IMPACT have agreed to meet at the Labour Court to try and resolve their dispute.
They both accepted an invitation from the Labour Court today to attend on Wednesday morning at 10am.
A spokesperson from IMPACT said that the invitation had come from the Labour Court this evening.
The invitation was issued under the section of the act that allows the court to intervene in a case that is in the public interest.
Earlier today, Transport Minister Leo Varadkar invited management and union representatives to use the Labour Relations Commission in a bid to settle the dispute.
It came following the breakdown of talks between the airline and IMPACT, which represents cabin crew, on Friday.
Dispute
The long-running dispute between the airline and the union centres on the issue of rosters.
IMPACT will not be calling off the strikes – due on 16 and 18 June – ahead of the talks, the union said this evening.
Transport Minister Leo Varadkar has been outspoken about his thoughts on the dispute, saying a month ago that people are “pretty sick” of Aer Lingus workers threatening to go on strike.
However, IMPACT had said the union had been left with no other way to negotiate with the airline other than balloting for strike action.
Varadkar said on Saturday that the State’s industrial relations machinery “remains available to both sides and should be utilised, if direct negotiations have proved unsuccessful”.
Industrial action
At the beginning of the June bank holiday, the dispute was felt by travellers when many Air Lingus flights at Ireland’s three man airports were cancelled.
Aer Lingus has said it is willing to “engage in a process to achieve the desired roster pattern”, but in a way that does not impact on cost or operational efficiency.
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I have very little support for then aer lingus staff. They should stand up to impact, and stop being bullied into striking
“No other way to negotiate other than to ballot for strike action”…..that’s some negotiation alright. I pray that Aer Lingus doesn’t give into this roster change – nobody can dispute the relatively cushy number that Aer Lingus cabin crew have in comparison to other airlines but of course they will deny that as it takes balls to admit such a thing.
Come live in my house for a week and you will see how cushy they have it.
Oh so wise and knowledgable one
The turnover of staff wouldn’t be so low if it was tough. I think they forget what the job entails. It’s a bit like a nurse saying he/she wants to be compensated for having to deal with sick people or seeing blood….you know what you signed up to so just get on with it. Outrageous behaviour.
Personal insults mean you’re losing.
They are lucky to have a good job that pays well. Instead they begrudge it at the cost of irritating ever member of the Irish public! Wouldn’t it just be great if we could all go to work and tell our bosses what we wanted or else! If the don’t like it then let someone else have the job. They will all be scratching their heads when redundancies come into conversation and wonder how on earth all of these strikes (threats) had an impact on business.
No I think you don’t know what the job entails or exactly what staff have contributed over the years for the viability and stability of the airline.
Your comparison with a nurse doesn’t hold water
Your talking rubbish.. Can you not gauge by the public reaction. Go get another job if there not happy. Id say there would be a long q looking to replace them !!
Glad to see mediation taking place. Hopefully sends a message to employers up and down the land. Semi state, private whatever, we’re sick of cuts. Fair days work for a fair days pay. We want to live not just exist.
Sends a message to unions as well?
Hopefully it’s the end game. Everyone tries to get out without loosing face. Chips to be played now. AL suing union , loss of staff travel rates. The resolution now of a trial 5 day week with guarantee of two consecutive days off and better flexibility for staff.
Put the pension strike on hold for a few months to rebuild customer confidence etc. Pilots dispute then on pay and we start again.
You know that Aer Lingus make around €400,000 a year from staff travel? and staff travel is the company allowing staff take an unsold seat on a plane. Anyhow this will be the first thing returned to staff due to the nature in how it was took off them
IMPACT should be disbanded for encouraging their members to go on strike with no regard for their jobs!
So lets try to understand the half wit theories that say that the Aer Lingus workers should accept anything the extremely highly paid Aer Lingus CEO and his buddies throw at the Workers, and if need be the Cabin Crews should work for buttons and be glad that they have a job and also have the privilege of serving tea to the fat buffoons who think their annual trip to the Ibiza is more important than the Cabin Crews rights and livelihoods ???
The Aer Lingus workers are an example and an inspiration to all workers in this country to stand up for their rights and not be walked on by Aer Lingus management who gorge themselves on multiples in a year of what some of the Cabin Crew might earn in a lifetime.
i see an awful lot about how much the aer lingus bosses are getting but id like to see how much the president of impact gets paid id say its a fair few euro
It’s a constitutional right to join or not join a union. Many do, many don’t. I don’t worry about other peoples pay packets, their name is not on my bills. I’m sure the staff who are fighting these cuts would have similar thoughts. It’s not about impact or Mullers pay it’s about people standing up for their livelihoods and I support that.
Doubt it’s buttons they work for l, can’t say cause I don’t know but say they are getting paid well maybe not as well as management or pilots but their job is unskilled as such, it took a lot of man hours for a pilot to get to where he is so of course he/she will be be better paid and better conditions !
Paul.
Who will be the half wits when the company goes bust and they all lose their jobs ?
What a crock of s**t
The latest 2 day strikes are set to cost Aer Lingus another €20 million added to the the prevous €10 million in lost revenue, last year they could just manage a 60 million profit,at this rate if the dispute isnt settled losses are a possibility for the Airline this year,and thats before the €800 million deficit in the employee trustee pension fund is even mentioned, even more pressing is the loss of future business for AL due to the real fears of travelers that they cant rely on them and will book through foreign carriers, as i have already done myself, the damage caused to the company by these strikes could well have serious long term implications for the very survival of the company.
What a job these these tea and coffee servants are doing at bolstering Ryanair’s passenger numbers.
Aer Lingus should look at getting rid of some of these bolshey trolley dollies – it doesn’t look like equal opportunities and quotas are being implemented – need more men and foreigners.
what has employing more foreigners got to do with opportunities and quotas?? it’s an Irish company operating out of Ireland. Non nationals make up 12% of the population and in 2002 it was around 5%, given their hasn’t been mass recruitment and a lot of staff are there longer than 12 years then you would expect non nationals to make up about 7% of the workforce although I don’t have the exact figures.
Gender quotas in the Cabin crew would be heavily in favour of women, but in the company as a whole if you factor in Pilots, fitters, baggage handlers, caterers etc then i’m sure the gender balance wouldn’t be quite so lobsided
Ass in a hole
Seems like gov ministers hate the working class
it’s Fine Gael we’re talking about here of course they hate the working class. And it seems now that the working class hate Labour aswell
Joe
Please explain that outrageously stupid remark.
Are u thick
Vert true
It’s times like this we require more airline competition in the Irish market instead of a whole nation relying on 2 main carriers Aer Lingus and Ryanair who are proving to be as bad as each other. Maybe Varadkar should open up more slots, encouraging more competition instead of continuing to protect the oligopoly that Aer lingus shares.
Well I was on a A/L flight 2 days ago and the staff were not helpful in helping people. Two elderly people were flying and looking for their seats, the 2 who didn’t know where they were suppose to seat! Instead of helping them the air hostess went in the intercom and said to them to keep in off the ail to let other people get by, it’s only when a passenger beside them helped them they found their seats ! later in flight giving out refreshments I can’t say a smile was given or a friendly service! I hate to say it but Ryanair was better and more friendly to be honest ! If aer lingus is our national air-line I’m embarrassed to call them so
AL cabin crew (and their families, friends and trotskyites supporting them here) have again got their heads up their own backsides and while ‘annoyed’ with a perceived injustice will take it out on the passengers. You see it so regularly with AL cabin crew – when there is a problem with management the typical very good service with a smile falls fast.
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