Pilots give Aer Lingus outsourcing ultimatum
Friday November 20 2009
AER Lingus pilots have issued an ultimatum to bosses at the troubled airline to stop all outsourcing if an almost €100m cost-cutting deal is to be agreed.
The airline's chief executive, Christoph Mueller, has already told staff of sweeping cuts, including 676 job losses, pay cuts and outsourcing of some of its operations. Unions and management have until the end of this month to come to an agreement during talks at the Labour Relations Commission.
The jobs are to be axed at Dublin, Shannon and Cork over the next two years as part of the airline's last-ditch battle for survival. Aer Lingus says 489 jobs will be lost among pilots, cabin crew and ground staff, while the remaining jobs will be axed among back-office workers.
But the Irish Airline Pilots' Association (IALPA) warned Aer Lingus bosses yesterday that its decision to use 32 non-Aer Lingus pilots to fly Aer Lingus aircraft was not acceptable.
Pilots fear that outsourcing key operations will amount to "a race to the bottom".
IALPA president Evan Cullen told the Oireachtas Transport Committee yesterday that pilots at Aer Lingus had accepted pay cuts in the past and even offered to work unpaid for one month.
Despite this, Aer Lingus continues to record huge losses with the company in the red to the tune of over €90m by June of this year. It's expected to lose €100m this year on top of a nearly €120m loss last year.
The company is recruiting pilots to crew flights from Washington to Madrid as part of a deal with United Airlines. But Aer Lingus pilots claimed yesterday they are effectively barred from applying for these jobs because of green card and working visa requirements.
Fine Gael TD and committee member Shane McEntee called on Transport Minister Noel Demspey last night to clarify what he knew about Aer Lingus's outsourcing plans.
Labour's transport spokes-person Tommy Broughan said it was "completely unacceptable that the Ryanair and Irish Ferries model is now being applied to Aer Lingus".
- Aidan O'Connor
Irish Independent
