Unions await extent of Aer Lingus redundancies

STAFF at Aer Lingus should find out next Wednesday how many staff positions are to be sacrificed in the company’s €100 million cost cutting plan.

The airline’s management team has invited SIPTU, which represents 1,900 ground staff and a small number of cabin crew, to a meeting at its headquarters at Dublin Airport next Wednesday.

The officials will then meet with IMPACT trade union, which represents the other 1,800 cabin crew and pilots, on Thursday.

The airline is trying to recoup €100 million in costs after posting an operating loss of €22.3m for the first half of the year, down from an operating profit of €2.6m a year earlier.

There has been intense speculation that up to 1,500 staff both on the ground and in the air may see their jobs outsourced to companies that can provide services at a cheaper cost.

The airline’s baggage handlers, catering and check-in staff are expected to be worst affected and their jobs could be affected before the end of 2009.

Up to 1,100 workers at Dublin Airport, 80 in Cork and more than 300 in Shannon would be affected.

The number in Shannon could include cabin crew, as the airline seeks to scale back the costs of its transatlantic routes. There have been suggestions the airline might look at using cheaper US-based cabin staff on flights to and from the US.

In letters to the unions the airline has reiterated that it needs a “root and branch review of our cost base on all aspects of the company’s business, including the number of aircraft we operate, bases, routes and unit staff costs and productivity”.

There have been two board meetings on the nature of the costs and an announcement had been expected after the second of those meetings last Friday.

However, the announcement was cancelled amid rumours a number of directors had concerns over what was planned and another board meeting was pencilled in for next Friday. It appears the company is not prepared to wait for the outcome of that meeting before beginning negotiations with staff representatives.

It took the airline 18 months to achieve agreement on its €20m Programme for Continuous Improvement 2007 cost-saving programme. This time the airline has signalled it is not prepared to be hampered by an unwieldy industrial relations process.

An airline source said it had asked Kevin Foley, director of conciliation at the Labour Relations Commission and a renowned facilitator, to mediate in next week’s talks in order to proceed as rapidly as possible.

SIPTU’s shop stewards from the three airports will meet at Dublin Airport on Tuesday to discuss their position ahead of the talks.