Aer Lingus pilots have voted overwhelmingly to accept proposals to reduce pilot numbers, but have rejected new work practices the company is seeking. The implications of the decision may not be clear for some days as management has signalled that it intends implementing all aspects of the national airline's survival plan, including those rejected by the pilots last night.
The proposals to reduce pilot numbers were put forward by independent consultant Mr Phil Flynn, a former general secretary of IMPACT, which represents the pilots. They accepted them by 310 votes to 60, and the union's senior negotiator, Mr Michael Landers, said the proposals "endorsed the union's view that the airline's difficulties could be tacked effectively without compulsory redundancies". The Flynn package includes a range of measures, including early retirement at 52, unpaid leave, job-sharing and part-time working.
Mr Landers said IMPACT was available for discussions with Aer Lingus management on new working conditions put forward by Mr John Russell, who is a former head of human resources at An Post. Pilots rejected them by 635 votes to three.
Pilots rejected the Russell package because they felt it went too far by reducing their working conditions to the "legal minimum standards". Mr Landers said no other company employees "have been asked to tear up working conditions and operate at the legal minimum".
He added they had accepted a pay freeze, cuts in leave, and reduced staffing, which had saved Aer Lingus €12 million.
Aer Lingus's head of corporate affairs, Mr Dan Loughrey, said after the ballot that the company was implementing its survival plan in full, including those aspects relating to pilots. It accepted the two reports by Mr Flynn and Mr Russell as "the completion of an exhaustive process" going back to the Labour Relations Commission proposals of November 2001.