AER LINGUS has warned that cabin crew who refuse to operate controversial new rosters could be sacked.
The airline last night sent letters to 140 members of cabin crew, who have been removed from the payroll as part of the current dispute, offering them another opportunity to agree to operate the new rosters.
A spokesman said that those who did not agree to do so would be placed “in a process which could ultimately see them removed from the company and replaced”.
Aer Lingus yesterday largely operated its scheduled services, partly as a result of using aircraft and crews hired in from other airlines including Ryanair. However, informed sources close to the airline said that there was “no question of the company hiring aircraft for the rest of our lives”.
The airline yesterday cancelled one flight to Chicago. However, it said that it anticipated operating a full service today.
The letter to cabin crew members stated that the company was offering staff an opportunity to give undertakings to operate the new rosters and associated rules and to remove themselves from the current “no-work-no-pay situation”.
However, it warned that failure to provide the undertaking sought by the company would see the cabin crew concerned brought into a disciplinary process.
“This disciplinary process could result in the imposition on you of a disciplinary sanction up to and possibly including dismissal from the employment of the company.”
Impact, which represents the cabin crew involved in the dispute, said last night that Aer Lingus management were misjudging the mood of its members by issuing threats to sack them.
It said that this could make it harder to find a resolution to the dispute.
The union said the threat to sack staff, communicated first via the media, was completely at odds with the company chief executive’s message in newspaper adverts yesterday which stated cabin crew were among the best in the world and “deserved appreciation from the company for their flexibility and dedication”.
A union spokesman said the apparent attempt by the company “to frighten cabin crew into submission and divide a unified group of professional colleagues has completely misjudged the mood of cabin crew and, if anything, will make it harder to find a solution to this problem”.
“Cabin crew are absolutely solid in their support for one another and in their determination to protect their working conditions and a reasonable work-life balance.”
The union said it would be assisting its members if they received further correspondence from the company, and would represent them in any dealings with their increasingly volatile employer.
About 300 cabin crew members, as well as some pilots, held a march, in uniform, yesterday morning to the headquarters of Aer Lingus at Dublin airport where they handed in a letter to the airline’s chief executive Christoph Mueller.
In the letter the cabin crew said that they were “ready, willing and able” to work.
The staff said that they were loyal to Aer Lingus but were also “loyal to each other and to our families whose quality of life we are trying to protect”.
They said they were “unable to understand why you prefer to waste scarce company resources to hire in planes and crew when we are reporting for duty every day”.
Cabin crew have argued that rosters introduced by the company unilaterally last week are unduly onerous. However, the company has contended that the rosters and associated rules were necessary to give effect to commitments set out in an overall reform plan to increase cabin crew flying hours to 850 per year.