Aer Lingus threatens unilateral cost cuts after cabin crew reject deal

Aer Lingus has upped the ante as its attempts to force through cost cuts with its 1,300 cabin crew. It is threatening to unilaterally implement a range of tough measures after crew this week voted overwhelmingly to reject a proposed deal. On Tuesday, a ballot closed on the package proposed by the airline, which would have seen cabin crew accept new work practices and lower pay scales for new entrants. Forsa, the crew’s union, made no recommendation on the proposal and staff subsequently voted about 82% against it. In a three-page letter, Mary Montgomery, 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 E563m 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, Montgomery said there were too many cabin service managers working for the airline, so it had decided that they would now stay on 60% pay and hours “for the foreseeable future”.<br/>