Union asks Government to step in over Aer Lingus plan

SIPTU has asked the Government to intervene over Aer Lingus’s plans to shed the jobs of more than 1,300 of its ground-staff members.

Talks between the union and airline management to find an alternative to management’s plans to outsource or make redundant the majority of its ground operation broke down acrimoniously earlier this week.

The company now intends to progress that plan from December 1. It has started considering proposals from outsourcing companies and intends to appoint contracts within days.

SIPTU is currently balloting its members for all-out strike action and that ballot should be completed by Friday.

Yesterday the union’s national industrial secretary Gerry McCormack told shop stewards that during the three weeks of talks with management, the company had not been prepared to discuss anything except cutting staff costs and staff jobs.

“Despite repeated attempts by us to raise other issues, they failed to discuss their business strategy with us or provide information that would allow for informed discussion on anything other than job cuts and the decimation of pay and conditions for those who survived the axe,” he said.

“We will now seek the assistance of ICTU and the Government to find a solution to this problem but it takes two sides to resolve this crisis and that means the company will have to abandon its current position and look seriously for more creative options.

“Meanwhile, we will conclude our ballot next week for industrial action. We will not activate any mandate unless the company carries out its threat to outsource work unilaterally from December 1.”

He said that if, as in the past, the company attempted to bypass SIPTU and write to members to accept any redundancy package, the union would tell the staff to ignore the letters and await full information from our national shop stewards’ committee.

Previous attempts to bring the Government into disputes between Aer Lingus and its staff have failed as ministers point out that while the state still has a say in the airline, it is no longer the main shareholder.

Within the last few weeks Finance Minister Brian Lenihan pointed out: “The state cannot direct the business of Aer Lingus any further. It is a matter for the board of Aer Lingus to decide what is in the best interest of the company.

“There are real constraints on the extent to which the Irish State can tell Aer Lingus how to run its business.”