Interesting article in todays Irish Independent.
Brief extracts below.
Mueller calls Impact's bluff - Irish, Business - Independent.ie
Sunday January 23 2011
AFTER 15 months of shadow-boxing, the management at Aer Lingus finally called the bluff of the Impact trade union last week.
After the four largely wasted years of his predecessor Dermot Mannion, Aer Lingus has in Christoph Mueller a boss in the Willie Walsh mould once again.
Most of us who live and work in the non-cosseted real world would have to conclude that, despite voting to accept the restructuring plan, Impact has been dragging its feet for the past 15 months.
Now Mueller has lost patience with Impact's delaying tactics. He has chosen his time carefully. If you must have an airline strike then the best time from the company's point of view must be the quiet month of January.
Already 170 cabin crew have been taken off the payroll and the airline has hired aircraft to operate large parts of its schedule. Now Aer Lingus is threatening to go one step further and fire its refusniks. With Mueller clearly meaning business, the cabin crew would be well advised to return to work, while they still have jobs to go back to.