Aer Lingus decision is ‘Irish Ferries Mark II’

THE decision by Aer Lingus to outsource or make redundant 1,500 of its staff is the equivalent of “Irish Ferries Mark II”, ground staff union SIPTU claimed last night.

In announcing his union’s ballot for all-out strike action over the airline’s proposals, SIPTU national industrial secretary Gerry McCormack said: “This is Irish Ferries Mark II. It represents a firesale of good-quality jobs by a management that can see no further than the next quarter’s profit and loss sheet.

“Nobody in the company will emerge unscathed from this exercise. Even those who keep their jobs will have to sign up to new contracts, ‘a merit and performance based culture’ and a pay freeze until the end of 2009. The company has also told us it will continue to seek further savings, so surviving staff face the prospect of further reductions in pay and conditions, not to mention redundancy.”