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Shannon affair gets cloudier
Read more about: Connaught-Ulster, End of Shannon-Heathrow, Government, Munster, Northern Ireland, Transport, Travel & Tourism
A dog that hadn’t barked up to now — Aer Lingus staff — is barking. Tonight brings news of a 48 hour strike by pilots next week, not in protest against the Shannon withdrawal per se, but the fact that new Belfast base is hiring pilots outside the collective bargaining contract. This arises from the vacancy ads on the Aer Lingus website today [one wonders if the unions smelled a rat from the sequence of ads saying that regular pilot entry applications were closed but Belfast was open]. So the plot thickens. Why was Shannon more expensive than Belfast? It wasn’t — under the existing contract. Is Aer Lingus a full-service airline or a low-cost one? It doesn’t know. Is Belfast a Trojan Horse to revisit the full collective bargaining contract at Dublin? The staff might think so. A day that looked like the government was going to be let escape with lame talking points suddenly gets very interesting.
UPDATE: With Ryanair, the government, and the Employee Share Ownership Trust, isn’t there now a huge majority of the ownership claiming to be opposed to the SNN-LHR axing?
UPDATE 2: Here’s the Aer Lingus statement of reaction to the strike.
Their ability to sound wronged so soon after claiming that everyone in Shannon was losing their cool is remarkable. Also bizarre is this claim from Mannion –
He accused unions of trying to import “restrictive” work practices that exist in the Republic into Northern Ireland. This, he said, would “not be appropriate” and “possibly illegal”.
So on the one hand, they allow their defenders (like Dermot Ahern) to claim that the shift from SNN to BFS is just the natural development of an all-Ireland aviation market. But then when the unions want an all-Ireland labour market, it’s a different story.
Interesting also was how mannion would not be drawn on Sunday viz the pay rates for the Belfast operation. Their will be continued fallout one feels from this element in the dispute.
Shannon was not the cost issue it was the cost of maintaining public service obligations under a private model that is to blame, it seems. Another wonderful privatisation by the government
There’s an interesting quote from an EI spokesman in the Irish Times
A spokesman said the recruitment of new staff at local rates had always been a fundamental element of the plan to establish new bases outside the Republic of Ireland.
So the business plan for a privatised Aer Lingus was to take its legacy privileges — the Heathrow slots — but run a low cost model outside the state with them. I don’t recall anyone in the Dail being so explicit.
Looking at O’Leary call for an EBM, does the government have to vote with management in order for the motion to be defeated because if they abstain RyanAir and the unions could have more than the rest, or have I the numbers wrong?
Dan they would combined have more I think. But Ryanair are wanting the government to make the move.
Dan, I think Ryanair + Unions + Denis O’Brien (!) is already over 50 percent but I don’t know what the actual rules are to force a reversal of a management decision (or indeed to fire the management if it comes to that). Perhaps Simon’s post above will draw more discussion.
aha! forgot about Denis. HILARIOUS.
Also, the union guy said on Morning Ireland that they had foreseen an attempt by Aer Lingus to hire pilots on lower pay and conditions months ago, and had the vote ALREADY taken to go on strike if that happened (back in June I think). So once the ads came out, they could announce a strike with no delay.
How many advertisers would end their relationship with Spin Southwest if Dennis O’Brien voted against the motion. could the station face negative press if he did vote against it.