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THE START OF the June bank holiday weekend has been marred by the cancellation of nearly all Aer Lingus flights from three Irish airports today.
Cork, Shannon and Dublin airports have all been affected by the 24-hour strike by cabin crew over work schedules.
The departures schedules for Dublin Airport only lists some Aer Lingus flights as cancelled, with others left blank. The airline tried to rebook passengers onto extra flights yesterday and tomorrow. The schedules at Cork and Shannon are similarly affected, although some flights did depart this morning from the latter.
The striking cabin crew are planning to march to Aer Lingus’s head office in Dublin Airport later this morning as part of their protest.
The dispute, according to a letter from the crew represented by IMPACT and which was released to media yesterday, revolves around a new roster which does not allow staff to plan their rest time. The staff claim that “stable roster patterns like the one we’ve proposed are already in use in other airlines”.
The letter added:
What we’re seeking here is simply to test a system that ensures adequate rest between blocks of duty, and which we know is in place in other airlines. In the long term, it would be a more sustainable approach for the airline as well as for the crew.
The crew are proposing a “5:3″ roster, similar to that already in place for Aer Lingus pilots on shorthaul European services.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Director of Communications for Aer Lingus, Declan Kearney said that changing the roster for cabin crew would increase costs and drive up prices for customers.
He said that talks were due to take place next Wednesday.
Kearney said “if you were to exceed to the demands with a gun to the head then obviously that has a knock-on effect in an industrial relations environment”.
He said we can’t concede to the demands of the union as it will “incur huge cost increases”.
The increase in the chief executive’s pension payments “has nothing to do with this matter” said Kearney, who said it happened in 2013.
He said Wednesday’s meeting will not just focus on the rostering issue but will centre on how to “avoid the next ten years of disputes”.
Additional reporting Christina Finn
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Please journal..can ye wait till Halloween is a memory before posting photos of the big red fella…
Santa will always work for free anyway, his contract is close to the 0hours contracts also, Sc** that bought this company and sold it off straight away for a profit! Which the government allowed and put all these people out of work before Christmas! REMEMBER WHEN VOTING THIS YEAR LAB/ FG DURING THEIR TIME IN GOVERNMENT 5YEARS THEY PUT NO PROTECTION FOR WORKERS RIGHTS AND STILL HAVE NOT!
Spot on Joe.
It’s worth reminding people that the asset strip of this landmark store was another example of the Irish state protecting the interests of domestic and international capital over the welfare of the majority citizens as it has always done.
The sellers Gordon Brothers manipulated the corporate and legal structures for the efficient asset stripping the company. This involved separating the operations side of the business (OCS Operations) from the valuable property (OCS Properties).
OCS properties was making substantial profits on the back of OCS operations which was loss making as it was required to pay €300, 000 a month rental to it’s sister company OCS properties. If the 2 companies were not deliberately separated then there is no rent payable and the business is viable. It’s a neat little corporate ruse designed to allow the asset stripping of the company, exactly as occurred.
The operations business was then liquidated leaving the employees and creditors with little or nothing while the property is then sold for a massive profit. The statutory redundancy for the workers of course will be paid for by the state as the vultures swagger off with the loot.
The buyers Natrium have also sorted out their tax affairs and use hedge funds based in tax havens like Cayman and Guernsey so that they can avoid making any contribution to the society and workers that they prey on.
Meanwhile insiders like KPMG work for both sides and acts as liquidators on one hand and auditor for the buyers Cheyne Capital Management on the other. Cheyne Capital Management is one half of the joint venture Natrium which also consists of D2 Private owned coincidentally by a former KPMG employee. KPMG executed the sale at 2.30 am on the Friday morning just in time to avoid paying over the estimated €2 million owed to the concession holders.
This ransacking of the company, employees and the citizens was all perfectly legal as the law designed largely to protect the interests of capital and represses the working class.
Wally, people stopped shopping there, it’s really that simple. The store never moved with the times. Massive footfall bypassed the store everyday, they let themselves become irrelevant.
Ho Ho Ho
No Scarce. As already explained, Clerys was profitable as a single entity.
OCS properties which owned the building made a profit of around €5 million between August 2012 and January 2014 which equals the €300k monthly rental figure it received from OCS operations over the period. OCS operations made a loss €2 million during the same period.
If the 2 companies are combined as they originally were, then that leaves a net profit of €3 million.
Separating the property was the root cause of the subsequent business losses, exactly as planned in the asset strip.
Would you mind asking Santa if he could fix the time on Clearys clock before he heads off. It will nearly be showing the correct time when the clocks go back this weekend.
Everyone knows the Santas in shops & shopping Centres are an army of Santa’s cousins who help him out. It’s part of his magic.
I would love to go, Just one question everyone should ask themselves….Does the proceeds from this Santa go to any of the companies/People that had any hand at all on closing this store and more importantly showing little regard to its staff? A confirmation of this one way or the other will allow me to make a conscious decision to bring my little fella or not!
I doubt very much the workers will get a penny from this Santa. Unless they set one up beside the Clerys Santa. Calling themselves the original Clerys Santa
I will avoid it like the plague to show solidarity with the Clerys workers
In the same way that idiots suggested boycotting the best pop up store after clerks collapse. You know the one that was trying to keep Best concession staff from clerys in work by liquidating their stock! Solidarity is a strange thing sometimes. Either that or you do t understand the word
dunnes do a better one
O my, Sant has a shaft in one hand and a bell end in the other, who choose that photo??? lol.
All the anti-Semites can gather there and it will be easy for the Gardai to monitor their activities.
Wrong blog.
Is Santa anti Semite?
I’d sooner see Satan!
have your say