Pensions ballot for Aer Lingus workers

Aer Lingus employees are expected to be balloted at the end of next month on the latest recommendations aimed at solving the aviation pensions dispute.

While officials from Impact and Siptu did not comment, Aer Lingus chief executive Christoph Müller last week said that the airline hopes to have the issue solved by the end of the year, with an EGM for shareholders to vote on the matter likely to be held around November.

However, before that, employees will be balloted and while the timing is a question for the unions, the airline itself expects this vote to take place around the end of September or early October.

An expert panel was assembled to review the €780m deficit-lumbered Irish Aviation Superannuation Scheme — the main pension fund for Aer Lingus and Dublin Airport Authority employees. It recently recommended that both parties pay more into the fund.

For Aer Lingus, that means an extra €50m, taking its total contribution to around €190m.

Speaking last week, on the back of a promising set of first-half figures for the airline, Mr Müller said the plan needs to be implemented and that “no other solution” exists.

He also said that the main challenge facing the Aer Lingus board will be to persuade investors and shareholders to accept the plan.

Indeed, it was reported this week that during an investor roadshow following the recent publication of Aer Lingus’s interim results, about two-thirds of the airline’s institutional shareholders expressed concern about the plan to pump extra funds into shoring up the pension deficit.

Reportedly, one thought the extra payment was too generous, while another voiced concern that the amount was more than a quarter of the airline’s actual market value.

A spokesperson for Ryanair — Aer Lingus’s main shareholder, with a near 30% stake — said that the airline will consider any EGM motion “on its merits”.

However, it added that the company’s position on the pensions dispute hasn’t ultimately altered since May when it described the Aer Lingus board as being “spineless” for “rolling over again and again, at a cost of €600m and rising” and accepting “the latest crazy Irish Labour Court recommendation”.