Aer Lingus management braced for strike threat if SIPTU rejects job cuts

MANAGEMENT at Aer Lingus will brace themselves for the threat of strike action later today when the results of a ballot of members of trade union SIPTU are announced.

The union, which represents over 2,000 workers at the airline, called the ballot in response to management plans to shed 1,325 jobs as part of a cost-cutting programme.

SIPTU said the ballot was “a precautionary measure” that would not necessarily lead to strike action. SIPTU national industrial secretary Mick Halpenny said the union’s priority was to ensure that any changes proposed by management would not be implemented without the agreement of workers.

The airline hopes to achieve its targets through a combination of voluntary redundancies across the company, in addition to outsourcing of certain functions.

SIPTU is concerned that job cuts may be forced through in an effort to prepare the state-owned airline for transfer into private hands, after chief executive Willie Walsh, together with chief operating officer Seamus Kearney and finance chief Brian Dunne, announced outline plans for a management buyout last month.

Workers are seeking assurances that all job losses, which will see one quarter of the workforce leave the airline, will be voluntary and will attract lump sum payments equivalent to nine weeks for every year worked. The airline’s last major restructuring programme - instigated after 9/11 caused a sharp downturn in airline traffic - offered four weeks’ pay for each year worked.

The union also wants agreements on future pay arrangements and working conditions before agreeing to a programme of redundancies.

Aer Lingus said the proposed job cuts were necessary for the airline to remain competitive and to allow greater scope for investing in new aircraft and developing new routes. It has given no indication of the level of payments that will be made to staff who depart under the proposed voluntary redundancy programme.