A 24-hour strike by pilots on Thursday is expected to cost Aer Lingus up to €2 million, writes Joe Humphreys
Threatened strikes at Aer Lingus are becoming an ever more common occurrence - especially those led by company's pilots.
Since the State airline announced its survival strategy last October in the wake of the September 11th disaster, this group of employees has proved to be more troublesome to management than any other.
Last February the two parties moved back from the brink of strike action when they agreed to talks mediated by the Labour Relations Commission on job losses. The company had been seeking 156 pilot redundancies as part of its plan to shed 2,026 jobs within the company.
Only 10 pilots, however, initially came forward under the voluntary redundancy scheme. That number has risen to 86 following an improved offer, which the company agreed to, having been put forward by independent consultant Mr Phil Flynn, a former general secretary of IMPACT, which represents the pilots.
But, as that issue was resolved, disagreement turned to the related matter of new working conditions.
A set of proposals, put forward by Mr John Russell, a former head of human resources at An Post, were rejected by the union a fortnight ago by 635 votes to three. One of the most contentious points of the package was a plan to reduce the minimum rest-time between flights from 12 to 10 hours.
The company's decision to implement the proposals, and to suspend pilots unwilling to accept them, has precipitated the latest strike threat.
As far as the company is concerned, it has been forced into a corner by its financial constraints. It describes the Russell proposals as the completion of an exhaustive consultation process going back to December 2001.
IMPACT, however, regards the implementation of any change to existing work practices without agreement as unacceptable.
Throughout the dispute, management has portrayed the pilots as a marginalised, and perhaps even pampered section of its workforce, who earn among the highest salaries in the company - of up to €120,000 a year - and who are fighting change which has been accepted by everyone else.
The company has pointed out that it operates only 17 aircraft, leaving it with a ratio of pilots to aircraft of 17:1, compared to what it describes as an industry average of 10:1.
Aer Lingus pilots are also said to work shorter hours than flight crew in other airlines. According to Aer Lingus, its captains averaged 491 flight hours last year, and its first officers, or co-pilots, 466 flight hours. These totals are well below the 900-hour limit allowed under aviation safety regulations.
Despite this, IMPACT claims aviation safety will be compromised by the proposed reforms. It says reducing the rest-time limit to 10 hours would be illegal in the UK, a point which is open to debate.
There are, in fact, no legal minimum rest-time requirements under either national or international guidelines, according to the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA). Rather, each country's licensing authority will examine issues such as pilot rostering, rest-times and flight hours on an airline by airline basis to see whether any dangerous practices are in operation.
A spokesman for the IAA stressed yesterday it did not know of any possible safety breaches by Aer Lingus.
In bolstering its case, IMPACT has also highlighted the willingness of its members to forgo an independent pay award in order to aid the survival plan. The union claimed the pilots had already saved the company €12 million through the pay freeze, cuts in leave and reduced staffing.
Inevitably, Thursday's strike will benefit neither side. It is projected to cost the airline up to €2 million, and a similar sum will be lost for each extra day the strike drags on - as it threatens to do unless one or other side backs down.
After losses of €150 million last year and with projected losses of €27 million this year, it's money the company can ill-afford to lose.