Some posters were asking about the changes to the rostering policies..
I've listed some (not all of them) to give you an idea.. for anyone who does not fly for a living it can be hard to understand (or appreciate) how difficult (and exhausting) this type of shift work can be.. bear in mind these changes are above and beyond what was agreed by cabin crew in the Greenfield plan and many of the changes have no impact on increasing productivity (such as the ability to request a weekend off).
And of course every crew member (and I'm sure every employee in Ireland) appreciates having a job.. we all know and have someone belonging to us who has been affected by economic mess we live.. this does not mean any of us should roll over and accept sub standard working conditions..
* All meal breaks removed from European flights. This means cabin crew can work shifts of up to 11 hours with no meal break. There was formerly an entitlement to a half-hour break after six hours duties.
* Double’: shifts where staff must work on flights out and back from a destination twice in a day. (eg: Dublin-Geneva-Cork-Geneva-Dublin. These ‘doubles’ can also include other destinations of similar distance, eg, Paris; Amsterdam; Hamburg. The doubles mean a working day of up to 11 hours – and more if there are delays for any reason.
* Duties can be changed by 3 hours on the day of duty. Eg, you could come in to do a 7am flight to be told you are on a different flight departing up to three hours later (not including delays) – and can finish work three hours later than rostered. A nightmare if you have kids or other caring responsibilities.
* Similarly, duties can be changed by up to four hours the day before the rostered shift.
* The existing right to request one weekend off duty every eight weeks is abolished under the new rosters. (bear in mind even though you could request a weekend you were not guaranteed a weekend off)
* The minimum of 8 rostered days off per month is reduced to 7.
* Cabin crew can be sent (with very short notice) to work away from base for 26 days at a stretch. No such duty has yet been rostered, but there are big fears about how this would work in practice, particularly for those with childcare and other caring responsibilities.
* The rest period on transatlantic flights has been halved from 24/20/17 (depending on route) hours to 12 hours. This means that staff can do the outward flight to, say, New York and then work the flight back to Ireland that evening.