Almost 8,000 Aer Lingus passengers face further disruption next month as cabin crew at Manchester Airport plan a series of strikes in a row over pay.
Cabin crew based at the British hub plan a four-day strike from this Thursday, October 30th, hitting 18 flights with an estimated 4,000 passengers.
Their trade union, Unite, told the Irish carrier on Tuesday that staff plan further stoppages between Sunday, November 9th and Tuesday, November 18th. Crews will walk out between the 9th and the 11th, on the 14th and from the 16th to the 18th, Unite confirmed.
It is understood that those strikes will hit around 7,500 passengers on flights between Manchester and New York, Florida and Barbados.
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Aer Lingus said it would keep customers informed and reaccommodate them where possible. The carrier can re-book people on alternative flights, book them with other airlines or lease aircraft and crew from other companies to fly its routes.
The Irish airline’s British operations flies between Manchester and transatlantic destinations including New York JFK, Orlando in Florida and Bridgetown in Barbados.
Around 130 airline staff voted to strike earlier this month after rejecting management’s offer of a 12 per cent pay increase and a $15 boost (€12.90) to their US overnight allowance, bringing it to $130.
The basic pay of the Manchester-based cabin crew and the overnight allowance would still lag Irish crews’ earnings had they accepted the deal, according to Unite.
Irish crew’s basic salaries start at €29,833.26 a year while their UK counterparts start at £17,640.25 (€20,092.15), or £8,250 less, the union calculates.
It adds that Irish staff get $171 a night for all US destinations while UK crew receive $111 for Orlando and $115 for New York.
Members in Aer Lingus UK struggle to pay rent and have to take on second jobs to afford essentials, Unite maintains.
The union says the airline has projected profits of £35 million from two Manchester-based aircraft flying transatlantic routes out of the airport.
Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, branded it “outrageous” that crew working for a profitable airline struggled on low wages. She blamed Aer Lingus for the disruption faced by passengers as the airline “consistently put profits over people during this dispute”.
The carrier said that it negotiated in good faith with Unite “having regard to benchmarked market pay in the UK”.
“Aer Lingus and Unite reached agreement on two separate comprehensive and market competitive pay deals which Unite then recommended to its members,” said a statement. One of the deals was reached following talks at Britain’s Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, the company noted.
It is regrettable that Unite is escalating its strike, the airline said.
“Aer Lingus will continue to focus on planning for this increased disruption and communicating directly with impacted customers with a view to reaccommodating them where possible and minimising the disruption caused to them,” it added.
Irish cabin and ground crews recently rejected pay offers from the airline tied to extra productivity. Unions and management are likely to reopen talks on those issues, sources say.
