Aer Lingus has warned about 1,500 pilots and cabin crew that they face having pay increases due under the national agreement withheld permanently if they do not agree on changes to working practices by next week.
In a letter to the trade union Impact yesterday, the company said that if agreements on change were not reached by the end of January it would deem outstanding payments due under the national agreement to be the contribution of pilots and cabin crew towards the airline's overall cost-saving programme.
Impact last night described the airline's move as "a stunt". A spokesman said the company had no authority under the national agreement to keep pay increases due to staff.
Aer Lingus has been in negotiation with trade unions for some time now on a reform plan, known as the Programme for Continuous Improvement (PCI) aimed at generating annual savings of €20 million. Last October, in a highly controversial move, the company introduced a freeze on paying two phases of the national agreement, due last autumn and this coming April, until progress was made on the cost-saving plan.
As part of talks brokered by the National Implementation Body (NIB) before Christmas, the company and the trade union Siptu have been examining cost-savings worth about €10 million.
It is understood the company considers that "good progress" has been made in the talks with Siptu and has signalled that pay increases due to 1,800 staff represented by the union will be paid once a final deal is concluded.
However, in the letter yesterday Aer Lingus chief executive Dermot Mannion said the position adopted by Impact's cabin crew committee, which represents about 1,000 staff, regarding the PCI plan had been "very disappointing".
He said it was clear the committee was unwilling to commit to any of the cost-saving measures contained in either a Labour Court recommendation last year or in the company's own PCI plan. Mr Mannion accused Impact of seeking to "cherry pick" recommendations it wished to accept.
"This complete absence of engagement on PCI cost-savings combined with the disregard of the Labour Court recommendations and the outcome of the recent NIB process places us in a difficult and regrettable situation.
"In these circumstances, should agreement on the implementation of the PCI cost-saving measures, or alternatives which may deliver equivalent savings not be concluded by January 31st, 2008, cabin crew will forego phases two and three of the Towards 2016 pay agreement and this will be considered as the cabin crew contribution to PCI-07 staff cost savings," Mr Mannion said.
Pilots are to be paid 1.5 per cent due under the national agreement from today after the company accepted binding arbitration on one element of its reform plans.