Aer Lingus workers offered €250m sell-off 'sweetener'

Aer Lingus is reportedly offering its staff a €250m "sweetener" to coincide with the planned privatisation of the State airline.

Reports this morning said employees were being offered lump sum payments of €4,400 each, a 3% pay rise on top of those contained in the new social partnership deal, a €104m contribution to their pension scheme and up to 7.5% of future profits to buy shares in the company.

The reports said the pension deal was worth more than €35,000 to each of the airline's 3,600 workers, while the share deal would be worth up to €25,000 each.

Aer Lingus has also reportedly agreed not to outsource jobs until 2010 at the earliest and to ensure that at least 75% of staff are employed on a permanent basis.

At present, up to 50% of workers in some departments are only employed on a seasonal basis.

Aer Lingus is hoping that the package of incentives will prevent any strike action over the planned privatisation.

Reports this morning said the IMPACT trade union had accepted the offer in principle, but SIPTU was still holding out for further concessions.