€20m to lure 260 airport retirements

OVER €20 million will be set aside by the new Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) for a voluntary retirement package to attract at least 260 workers, an industry source confirmed last night.

The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) board, which has overall responsibility for Shannon until next April, was notified about the deal yesterday.

Dublin was told that the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) intends to open discussions with the trade unions about a voluntary early retirement package that will cut costs. A SAA spokeswoman stressed that any job cuts will be voluntary and that they were needed to address the “unacceptable budgetary outlook for Shannon”.

It is expected that the number of jobs directly involved in managing the airport will be reduced.

“These cost improvements together with significant non-payroll cost reductions will contribute to the development of a long-term profitable business at Shannon,” an SAA spokeswoman said.

There are 560 permanent workers at Shannon Airport and the State Airports Act 2004 which sanctioned the break-up of the three main airports gives a legal guarantee to all jobs so there can be no forced redundancies. “But over €20 million will be set aside for the voluntary retirement package which should prove attractive to many workers,” an industry source confirmed.

Even if 260 workers take the voluntary retirement package, they will still get a fairly lucrative deal of almost €77,000 each.

However, unions vowed last night to fight the 260 proposed job cuts at Shannon. SIPTU said the Government had given a commitment not to cut staff at Dublin, Shannon and Cork.

SIPTU national industrial secretary Michael Halpenny said they will be insisting that these protections are upheld. “It is very difficult to reconcile how the Shannon Airport Authority could announce on the one hand an increase to passenger numbers of 1.5 million in 2005 - on foot of the recent Ryanair deal - and on the other to say there are too many staff employed at Shannon.”

The TEEU, which represents the majority of craft workers at Shannon, warned last night that any plan to cuts jobs would sound a death knell for Shannon. The union vowed to launch a vigorous campaign against it, claiming the cost of the deal will have to be borne by Dublin Airport workers.

“It has all the hallmarks of a business plan drawn up by Homer Simpson,” the TEEU spokesman said.