AER LINGUS HAS accused cabin crew staff of seeking 32 extra paid days off as they prepare to strike.
Cabin crew in the IMPACT trade union will strike on 30 May in a row over rostering.
A spokesperson for IMPACT trade union said the cabin crew were taking the action because the company had failed to engage on the rostering issue for so long.
However, the airline has hit back tonight, saying that the proposed “5:3″ roster plan would be unworkable.
“Aer Lingus cabin crew enjoy very favourable conditions of employment in the airline sector, and this extends to the rosters they work,” the company said in a statement this evening.
“Aer Lingus cabin crew already have between 26 and 31 days annual leave, but the IMPACT Union is seeking the equivalent of an additional 32 paid days off for cabin crew, which is clearly unacceptable.
“Aer Lingus believes the issues should be dealt with through the normal negotiation process, which is already underway within the company, making the threat of strike action pre-emptive, unwarranted and an extremely unfair imposition on the travelling public, the tourism industry, exporters and business travellers.”
Aer Lingus say that claims of 60 hour weeks and 16-hour days “bear no resemblance to actual rosters”.
“A detailed analysis of actual Aer Lingus rosters over the last 12 months shows that the average working week for cabin crew was 30 hours, and that the incidence of staff working greater than 50 hours in a seven day period was less than 0.5%.
“In relation to 16 hour days, our analysis shows that the longest planned working day in the roster is 13 hours, involving flying Dublin to San Francisco.”
They called on IMPACT to call off the strike, which is set to disrupt a large number of passengers over the June Bank Holiday weekend.
Customers who are due to fly on the 30 May are encouraged to log on to the Aer Lingus website for more details.
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