Half of Aer Lingus cabin crew in survey worked while ill

Almost half of Aer Lingus cabin crew staff who responded to a health and wellbeing survey turned up for work when they should have been out sick, according to the survey’s final report.

The report, by Dr Richard Wynne of the Work Research Centre and commissioned by the trade union Impact, also claimed about one third of cabin crew were regularly taking medication to help them sleep.

The survey was carried out among 1,040 cabin crew, 470 of whom responded, giving a response rate of 45.2 per cent.

Impact said fears over job security and pay were behind the trend which was evidence that Aer Lingus’s recent return to profitability and sale to the IAG group had come at a price to workers.

The report revealed that, in response to the question “On how many days have you gone to work while sick in the past 28 days”, almost half of respondents reported they had worked at least one day while sick.

In addition, just over a quarter of respondents said they had done so three or more times during the survey period.

Key findings of the survey included:

* Just over 40 per cent of cabin crew said they were required to see the company doctor on the first day of absence due to illness.

* Almost 40 per cent said they wanted to avoid the company’s disciplinary process.

* Almost 29 per cent said their illness was not bad enough to miss work.

* Just over 20 per cent of respondents said they continued to work because they did not want to let their colleagues down.

* About 17 per cent cited financial reasons for continuing to work despite being ill.

More than 80 per cent of respondents reported that they had not had the opportunity for a meal break while working, with many reporting this was a regular feature of work practice.

Dissatisfaction

Impact assistant general secretary Michael Landers said the survey showed a very high level of dissatisfaction with the company’s sickness absence procedures.

“This helps to explain the high levels of ‘presenteeism’ among cabin crew, and raises genuine concerns about health and safety of staff and passengers if people are continuing to work through periods of illness,” he said.

Mr Landers said the report also reveals significant problems with sleep disruption and a high level of dependence on sleep medication, with over a third of respondents reporting they took sleep medication once a week or more often.

Mr Landers said: “During the survey period a large majority worked flight duty periods of more than nine hours, while almost a third had worked at least one flight duty period of more than 13 hours.”

The report’s author, Dr Wynne, recommended that a joint union-management approach on health and safety was necessary.