I was appalled to hear on the radio the secretary of the Airline Pilots' Association state that not only were they going on strike for four days, with all its implications and at the cost of at least £4 million to Aer Lingus, but that they were going to have 24 hour-lightning strikes. All this came only 48 hours after their agreement had expired. As serious as the four day strike is, notice was given and the airlines had an opportunity of providing alternatives and the public were made aware of it. When we will have the lightning strikes the public may find themselves stranded for 24 hours in London or any other airport. These people might need to be back for a funeral or to come back to someone who is seriously ill, or may have no money at the end of their trip and they would have to find their own way home. They may have to find another place to sleep for the night. That is all because the airline pilots took it into their own hands to take this action. If retrenchment is forced on Aer Lingus then the obvious casualty will be the loss-making North Atlantic route which is costing about £20 million per annum, while the Irish Airline Pilots' Association captains are now earning £45,000 per year. In addition to that, they get $75 a day expenses free of tax plus their hotels and their food. Any contraction in the airline flight schedule will mean that the pilots jobs will be the first to go.
I doubt that all the 250 pilots have endorsed this latest version of "hijacking" as practiced by the association on the general public. We do not know if they had a meeting. We do not know if they had a vote. All we know is that the secretary of their association came on the radio and made these announcements. The reality is that the pilots are in dispute, not with Aer Lingus, but are on a collision course with the Government.
The Airline Pilots' Association were offered a special hearing by the Labour Court; they did not want it. The Airline Pilots' Association knew that at the end of the month a decision and guidelines would be given to Aer Lingus by the Labour Court. They could not wait until the end of the month. If industrial relations as practised by the airline pilots were to be emulated by the rest of the country's workforce we would have strikes right across the community involving up to about 100,000 workers. That is at least the number in the private sector whose pay deal under the 24th wage round has now run out and in some cases is stretching back to last November and not back 48 hours as in the case of the pilots.
In my view, whatever the reason, this action is utterly indefensible and politically motivated. I say politically motivated because they refused a Labour Court hearing; they refused to discuss the dispute with their employer, Aer Lingus; they wanted to discuss it with the Government. They wanted a Government decision and they would not take the normal course. It is very difficult to understand the contempt the 150 pilots and their association are showing not only for the travelling public but for the vital tourist industry and also for their 5,500 colleagues in Aer Lingus whose job prospects could be adversely affected by this unnecessary stoppage.
Over the next decade Aer Lingus will have to provide from £300 million to £500 million to replace their shorthaul fleet and the Government have put them on notice that they must fund this from their own resources. How can they fund anything from their own resources when they are losing money and when an opportunity to make money arises it is just thrown away? Not only will the pilots strike have that result but it will cost the airline £4 million. That is for a start. The tourist season in this country was just getting on its feet and it looked as if we were going to have a bumper season. That was judged from the bookings in various resorts, such as Killarney, where I come from.
As the Fine Gael Party spokesman in the Seanad for tourism I am making this case, but when I wear my other hat I am also involved in tourism. I have a fleet of self-drive cars and I have coaches and I know how I am going to be affected. My colleagues in the business all over the country are going to be affected. I know how the hotels are going to be affected. The public abroad were educated to come here and much of it was a spin-off from President Reagan's visit. Now, all of that is going to be destroyed.
The pilots who were originally based in Shannon for social reasons got transfers to Dublin. Naturally, they had families who were growing up and they had in Dublin educational and other facilities which they would not have in Shannon. Then Aer Lingus moved the major maintenance staff and equipment to Dublin. That was a big loss to Shannon. A spokesman at one of the annual dinners of the pilots' association proposed to overfly Shannon despite the fact that 65 per cent to 70 per cent of passengers disembark in Shannon. The pilots association — and I would not tar them all with the same brush because I know there are decent people in it, people who would not be part of this action but are somehow hooked on it and it has made them anti-Shannon, anti-west and anti-Ireland.
