Aer Lingus cabin crew have voted to reject a package of controversial cost-cutting measures at the company.
The restructuring deal is aimed at saving €97 million a year at the airline.
The measures, which includes more than 600 voluntary redundancies and pay cuts of 10 per cent across the board, were agreed between management and unions in January following several months of negotiations.
Aer Lingus management threatened last month to impose a contingency plan involving more than 1,100 compulsory redundancies and a major scaling back of routes in the event that staff rejected the deal in a vote.
Impact, which represents cabin crew and other staff at the airline, said its members voted against accepting the deal by a margin of 64 per cent to 36 per cent. Turnout was 100 per cent, a spokesman said.
The union had recommended the approval of the measures to cabin crew. The spokesman said last week's threat by Aer Lingus management angered many staff and “had an extremely negative effect on the ballot outcome”.
Earlier, the Irish Air Line Pilots Association (IALPA) said its members had backed the proposals by 81 per cent to 19 per cent.
According to Iapla’s president, Captain Evan Cullen, the package of measures includes a 15 per cent reduction in the number of pilots at the Aer Lingus; a 10 per cent pay cut; a freeze on pay increments for three years; increases in productivity; reduction in benefits from the pension scheme and increased pilot contributions to the scheme.
"By voting in favour of this package of cost-saving measures pilots have once again demonstrated their massive commitment to Aer Lingus. We have already invested large amounts of our own money in buying shares in the airline and have incurred considerable losses to date,” he said.
Aer Lingus declined to comment, adding that it would wait until results of ballots by ground operations and support staff and maintenance workers before discussing the future of the cost-saving plan.
