asfkap, the pilots have an agreement called scope which covers who can fly our aircraft and from where. We have given up many things over the years in its defense because we felt it was the jewel in our ir crown. Now the management of Aer Lingus have decided to take all we gave up and circumvent scope with these new hire pilots. The engineers and cabin crew union chose to peruse a different course consequently the new base does not conflict with any of their collective agreements. This is why we are up in arms and the others are not.
Headincloads, I assume you are out to rattle the cage but you do bring up a point thats worth getting straight. Aer Lingus pilots work as hard as any in Europe typically 850 flight hours a year, most will during the course of the year be required to stand down to avoid exceeding state legal limits. Our package is commensurate with this level of productivity and if MOL is to believed in his interview on newstalk106 below FR.