Doug, Well put!
Noone seems inclined to answer my query re. the contract that the `UK` AL pilots are on.
My understanding is that it is different to that of `mainline` AL.
Lord L, is this correct?
Aer Lingus pilots operating out of the UK and soon Washington are on a negotiated local contract between the Aer Lingus pilot body and the company. Every serving Aer Lingus pilot regardless of base is a member of IALPA and every pilot a member of a Global Seniority List. Many of the pilots operating out of both UK bases are there on a secondment, meaning they will initially stay in those bases for an assigned period before being given the opportunity to move base should an opportunity arise. They are being paid the local contract rate regardless of the fact they are on a secondment. With the current agreement, thrased out in the Irish Labour court I may add means the most junior pilot in any Aer lingus base has the option to move or apply for promotion into any other Aer Lingus base. As of today there are 83 outstanding command bids for Gatwick from internal applicants wanting to move out of the Republic of Ireland. For those that have already moved or are in the process of moving it requires that you sign a new contract with your pay being reflected as that being paid at the negotiated rates between the employer and IALPA last year.
Aer Lingus are in the process of moving five current Irish registered A320 aircraft off it's books and are Dry Leasing them to Astreaus at a time when they have absolutely no need to do so. This is now where it gets interesting. In the process of doing this they are now claiming they have a surplus of pilots. However, these Aer Lingus coloured and owned aircraft are now going to be crewed by these 'cheap labour' pilots from another company. Aer Lingus to date have not negotiated or entered into talks with it's pilots but are about to enforce compulsory redundancies. 100 pilots is the figure being tossed around up for redundancy. 100 of these pilots have applied for transfer out of their Republic of Ireland contracts to the UK and Washington on local contracts but the company have failed to even consider this. They are going down a path of hiring in this company at a huge and unnecessary cost to crew it's aircraft whilst at the same time making others redundant and in many cases paying others in UK bases to sit at home. This folks is the real picture. This is an additional cost to the Aer Lingus company, not a saving. It is nothing short of an attack on our careers as pilots and Unions. The cost to them is irrelevant. Regardless of what airline you work for you can draw your own conclusions as to what will happen in the future within your airline if they succeed in this poker game.
Someone else asked the following question:
Real question here is: "Is the primary role of new Astraeus recruits to replace Aer Lingus pilots?" Let your answers be yea or nay and no more, please.
The answer is yes. There is no net increase in the number of pilots. They are simply replacing those that are about to be made redundant without any consultation from the company and despite the fact that there is a waiting list of 100 current pilots wanting to move into the Belfast and Gatwick bases
on the local contract rates from the Republic of Ireland. So to sum up. If the company allowed it's pilots to transfer onto UK contracts which 100 are only too happy to do they save a fortune. The current situation means they have to pay Astreaus to unnessesarily operate Aer Lingus aircraft and pay them to do so while at the same time having to pay Redundacy payments to it's own staff who they say are surplus to requirements. All this before they add another 4 aircraft to the Gatwick fleet next summer when they will realise they are now short of pilots again. As a shareholder you would have to start asking serious questions. But then the Irish Govenrnment are 25% owners and the silence is deafening to date. However, I stand my previous claim made in an earlier post. This is not the new CEO's proposal. This was devised in the period before he came to office. I still stand by my assertion that he is no fool. In it's current form it's undefendable.