Aer Lingus staff set to strike

The new boss of Aer Lingus declared war on his pilots and cabin crew today in a move that is likely to see the Irish airline join British Airways in a winter of widespread industrial discontent.

Christoph Mueller, a German former package holidays executive who landed as Aer Lingus chief executive in the summer, today ordered compulsory redundancies as staff rejected his plans to axe 676 employees, one in six of the workforce.

Members of the Irish pilots' union and cabin crew have refused to sign up to Mueller's swingeing cost-cutting, which will see staff on more than 35,000 (£32,000) have their wages, overtime rates and allowances cut, and pension arrangements going altogether.

Rejecting the pilots' demands for compensation, Mueller said: "In the absence of real cost savings being delivered from all employee groups, we will have to resort to other measures.

"It is very likely redundancies will commence immediately and will be compulsory."