sod the lot of you. Any time a union strikes it is over saftey - the public care about saftey, they dont care about people trying to hold out for uneconomic employment conditions. Aer Lingus have 2 problems that are preventing it from becoming profitable and expanding. The first is the unions. Face it, you have no public support. even if this is over saftey, the saftey exuse has worn very thin over the years with to many unions. Also Pilots have to be the highest paid unionised workforce. continuation of the seniority list vs the prevailing meritocricy method employed in the rest of the world does not endeer yourselves to the public mindset. While many of you earn 30-40K (GBP) the public image is of well tanned flyboys, earning 100+ and driving fast cars. I think it is often forgotten that you are little more than highly qualified bus drivers or min cab drivers, going from point to point on predetermined routes. Now I fly a lot and respect your proffesion, but I dont respect being left in the lurch at an airport and having to postpone, cancel or lose face over a deal. If Aer Lingus goes bust, you will only be missed by a few - Delta will increase service, as will BMI and BA. the flag carriers from other countries will pick up the slack. Oh and lets not forget ryan, ez and co. If the numbers quoted in the independant are correct then that is shocking 537 pilots for 33 planes. divide by 2 for a pilot and an FO, thats 250 + thats still over 7 full crews per plane. Do you want the airline to have a slow death or a quick one - either way you oposition to economic reality is startling.
Second, the stop in shannon - purely political and quite unnessasary, maybe BA should stop in MAN on the way to LA
Jon