EI cabin crew (CSM) Temporary Layoffs

smurfjed

Virgin Media are reporting that EI are placing a number of CSM’s on temporary layoffs, with the possibility of this impacting other grades.

Qprmeath

After this month is it possible for someone on temporary layoff or only on a percentage of their hours to get redundancy? Normally is but will The govt allow it to happen? The company have said the severance packages scheme is over but by law you can apply if not getting full hours.

Tenger

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/transport-and-tourism/aer-lingus-threatens-unilateral-cost-cuts-after-cabin-crew-reject-deal-1.4676310

In a three-page letter.........the airline’s director of inflight services, on Thursday wrote to the union and staff threatening to forge ahead anyway with a slew of cuts. “The seriousness of the situation has not been understood,” she said. Aer Lingus lost €563 million last year amid the pandemic

Aer Lingus said it is closing a voluntary redundancy scheme. During the pandemic, cabin crew have also been on reduced hours and pay, although the airline had previously said they would go back up to 80 per cent before Christmas. However, Ms Montgomery said there were too many cabin service managers (CSMs) working for the airline, so it had decided that they would now stay on 60 per cent pay and hours “for the foreseeable future”.

The airline said there was an “imminent requirement” to lay off CSMs “well into 2022”. It also threatened to lay off other cabin crew grades early next year. It said there would be no pay increases until 2025 “at the earliest”. It said it would also change how lieu days were allocated and the method for calculating commissions paid to cabin crew who made inflight sales of food and duty free.

Aer Lingus said it would also conduct a review of all cabin crew terms and conditions. It also suggested it would examine “the use of alternative bases”.

Forsa said the result of the ballot was “not a great surprise” as it would lead to “further erosion” of conditions. It acknowledged the impact of the pandemic, but said there was a “general feeling that management is not listening to cabin crew’s concerns”. Forsa urged the airline to “work with staff, not against them”.

https://www.independent.ie/news/aer-lingus-warns-layoffs-imminent-after-staff-vote-against-redundancy-40859030.html

The Indo article gives the impression that the crew will have wages reduced to 60%, when they are already at 60% (which are actually being paid by the Govt under the EWSS)

surely the threat of layoffs will render Aer Lingus in a sticky position with all the TWSS/EWSS help they got since April 2020?

Stovepipe

Ms. Montgomery has clearly forgotten where she came from......what's happening now is that EI are not pushing back on enough European or short haul flights and are essentially waiting for the Atlantic to reopen,ie, for the US to allow unrestricted pax flights again. What is also not being mentioned is a current row between Dnata and EI about stocking the trolleys for cabin service so aircraft are going out with minimum stock as a result, such as a few dozen cups of coffee and a few teabags, virtually no alcohol and so on. Now,if you are filling a 330 to Faro twice a day and not giving them enough to drink on board,then you are on a hiding to nothing. The cabin crew are pissed off because their commission has evaporated and then they get told that harsh cuts will be imposed. EI want the old sweats out but don't want to pay redundancy money and they want people to leave voluntarily by slashing their wages and terms. Race to the bottom.

kevinandrew

Aer Lingus seems to be in a real battle with itself at the moment, none of it looks good at a time they should be trying to win back passengers.

I understand the airline needs to adjust and manage its costs post-pandemic but from day one they’ve been bleating on about how they’re going to emerge as a “much smaller airline” after the pandemic which feels like a blatant defeatist attitude or maybe they were purposely using that kind of language to lay down the foundations of the cuts they’re now attempting to implement.

This, combined with the year long refund debacle, the ongoing flight cancellations and schedule uncertainty, the catering debacle and the new cabin bag charge is making Aer Lingus look like a very unappealing business to deal with.

I wish the staff involved the very best of luck going forward.

donkey balls

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117908104#Comment_117908104

Neighbour was on a flight back from the canaries where only tea and coffee was on sale along with chocolate bars, They ran out of all 3.Now whatever about 1/2 hr flight running out of stock but a 4 hr flight and its not fare on the CC working these flights having to deal with annoyed pax over no food and drink on board.

Is the reason for the cart shortages due to CV19 restrictions or due to the catering company?

Stovepipe

row with Dnata. EI shooting itself in the foot, Ryanair cleaning up.

Noxegon

The schedule uncertainty is a dealbreaker for me. I'm lining up a few weekends away between now and the end of the year, and I'm not prepared to risk EI based on recent reports. I can't be the only one.

x567

This seems to be turning into a general grumble about Aer Lingus’s current focus thread rather than the just original topic, which is sad and serious enough for those many and very good people affected...

To join in however, my own recent experiences of trying to stay brand-loyal and support EI have been very frustrating. I’m about to book a fourth European trip in the last month where yet again, EI don’t have either the viable timings or prices (or both) that they would’ve had pre-pandemic. Others do.

Whilst these recent frustrations are based on availability from Dublin, I’m particularly disappointed in the newly resumed SNN LHR timings which don’t support London day trips, or most outbound connections. For those of us that don’t live near Dublin or want to get up at stupid-o’clock for the early wave outbound flights from DUB this is important.

I think (and hope) that as we get used to travelling again and the regulatory brakes come off, it will be a little like a dam breaking in terms of demand for flights. I absolutely get the need to conserve cash in uncertain times, but the airlines that get the timing right and set themselves up to cater for increasing demand will be the ones that generate the cash that will start to flow. EI seem to be behind this curve at the moment.

And that’s without getting into the current lack of on-board catering, lack of fast-track security in many outstations, no clarity on OneWorld status, etc, etc.

Grumble over and best of luck to the cabin crew potentially affected by the original topic.

One positive footnote - three of the four recent short haul legs that I have managed to fly with EI have been on the 321NeoLR - very nice...