Aer Lingus staff to fight on for profit sharing as vote fails

Over 90pc of staff seeking slice of profits vote down airline’s voucher offer

AER Lingus is on a collision course with unions after staff overwhelmingly voted to reject a proposal to give them a €300 voucher instead of the potentially lucrative profit share they have long fought for.

The rejection ratchets up industrial relations tensions at the airline, coming as it does after a decision by management to outsource its Dublin Airport catering department, threatening over 200 jobs.

The airline’s ground staff voted by 92pc to reject a Labour Court recommendation to break a long deadlock on the profit share issue, the Sunday Independent has learned.

Trade union Siptu — which represents ground staff — wrote to the airline warning that “we will now reflect on this outcome and the next steps accordingly”.

Cabin crew and pilots, represented by Fórsa, rejected the recommendation by 96pc.

A Labour Court proposal in January said that, instead of the scheme sought by the airline’s staff since 2017, Aer Lingus should provide a 1pc pay rise and pay each staff member €300 in vouchers on a one-off basis.

“Aer Lingus can confirm that it has received confirmation of recent ballots that Siptu and Fórsa members have rejected a Labour Court recommendation relating to a gain-share proposal,” said a spokeswoman for the airline.

Ahead of the ballot, Siptu had recommended a rejection of the proposal, warning staff in a memo that a 1pc increase “does not come close enough to satisfying the claim for a profit share”, and would mean just a €400 payment to someone on €40,000 a year.

The memo, reported by the Sunday Independent, had also raised concerns about moves by the airline to close down a disputes resolution mechanism. It had been established between unions and management in 2016 to reduce conflict and the potential for industrial action.

The memo to staff had also raised concerns about a previous row over moves by the airline to deal with security issues, and proposals to introduce CCTV and private security to staff areas. The ballot comes at a sensitive time for industrial relations at the airline, following the move to outsource catering.

When IAG bought Aer Lingus in 2015, it gave commitments on employment arrangements and wrote to the Government to say that “we do not foresee a likelihood of either compulsory redundancy or non-direct employment”.

But the plan for the catering division has, according to airport sources, heightened staff concerns about wider outsourcing of the ground operation at Dublin Airport.

Although unconnected to the profit share row, this would likely make solving it even more difficult, said sources.