200 job losses likely after contract losses

AIRLINE maintenance company SR Technics is facing the prospect of up to 200 job losses after it confirmed yesterday it had secured just one of the four lucrative contracts it had with Aer Lingus.

Prior to the tender process at the end of last year, SR Technics had held the wheels and brakes, components, base maintenance and line maintenance contracts at Aer Lingus.

Before Christmas it was told it had lost the first two of those sections to competitors, but that did not affect its business too badly as the latter two contracts were the company’s mainstays.

In advance of the decision on the second two, workers at the company had been told the worst case scenario was that between 1,200 and 1,500 of them could lose their jobs at the north Dublin plant.

Yesterday, SR Technics confirmed it had successfully retained the line maintenance contract but that it had lost the base maintenance contract.

According to an Aer Lingus source, 200 SR Technic employees are retained year-round by the airline to carry out its line maintenance operations while 500 worked on the base maintenance section.

However, he added that the base maintenance section was only retained by Aer Lingus for the winter months and, at other times of the year the staff were free to work for other airlines.

SR Technics said it would be reviewing its operations in light of the Aer Lingus decision, but added the company would not comment on possible implications at this time. However, it is understood up to 200 jobs are at risk.

For Aer Lingus, the decision to re-tender all its maintenance operations as part of its cost-saving agenda is expected to save it “many millions” of euro over the next 10 years.

Meanwhile, Aer Lingus worker shop stewards yesterday met to discuss plans by the company to suspend any of its members who do not comply with the airline’s Programme for Continuous Improvement efficiency document due to be implemented on Monday.

After 14 months of negotiation, the document has not been agreed with the union but the company is determined it must be progressed.

However, SIPTU is determined its members will not co-operate with it.

After last night’s meeting, the union’s national industrial secretary Gerry McCormack said the stewards had decided a course of industrial action that they would advise members to take if there is any attempt to suspend them.