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Aer Lingus needs worker support ANOTHER week, another
crisis at Aer Lingus.
This time the airline faced the prospect of seeing its entire fleet grounded
as pilots haggled over terms and conditions for operating out of Aer Lingus’s
planned new Belfast hub.
Thankfully sanity prevailed and an 11th hour agreement was reached but
only after a weekend of intense talks between union, management and mediators.
It meant thousands of people due to fly between Britain and Ireland could
breath a sigh of relief knowing their travel plans would not be disrupted.
But the latest dispute comes amid ongoing turmoil as the former State
airline tries to weather the storm over its decision to pull out of its
Heathrow to Shannon service in favour of running an improved service between
London and Belfast.
And it is the latest in a series of rows with pilots over various issues.
There can be no doubt repeated disputes with staff and subsequent threats
of strikes or other industrial action can do little to boost morale at
Aer Lingus.
The airline’s management is rightly trying to shape the company
into a leaner operation able to cope with the competition from rivals
such as Ryanair, Easyjet and other low-cost carriers.
Doing this has not been easy. Before its sell-off by the Irish Government,
working for Aer Lingus was widely seen as virtually a job for life. Salaries
and staff levels were notoriously high — which is why the no-frills
airlines were able to muscle in and viciously undercut fare levels to
attract custom away from Aer Lingus.
The passenger benefited through lower prices and greater choice —
but the battle almost drove Aer Lingus to the brink of bankruptcy.
Times have changed and the airline is now in a much more stable condition.
But it still needs to work to control costs and implement working practices
in line with those of its rivals if it is to survive in a cut-throat market
place.
But to do that it needs its staff on board. If every time a change is
made we are offered the sight of both sides scurrying off into last-ditch
negotiations to avoid a strike then public confidence in the company will
quickly be eroded.
It is time management and staff started steering a path which sees everyone
pulling together for the good of the airline. Only that way can it prosper
in the future — which is surely what everybody wants.
A nickname farce
PADDYS, Micks, whatever — there’s scores of terms used to
describe us Irish which can be seen as offensive depending on the context.
But don’t worry, we’re not alone. An unseemly row has broken
out in the Observer newspaper of all places over one columnist’s
use of Jock to describe the Scots.
A number of readers were moved to inform the writer that the term Jock
is a racial slur and a derogatory expression that has no place in a respectable
newspaper.
But to even things up just as many Scots retorted that the complainers
were overreacting massively and the word was no more offensive than other
neutral shorthand for people of defined race or area such as Kiwi, Geordie,
Scouser or Manc.
There’s little doubt few people would see Kiwi as a racist term.
And if we go so far as to class every national nickname as automatically
demeaning then we’ll rapidly be entering the realms of farce.
As ever in these cases, it should not be the words themselves that cause
offence but the intent or otherwise behind their use. |
