Aer Lingus seeks ‘quid pro quos’ on pensions

Aer Lingus has warned it will not give any additional capital funding to address the deficit in the aviation pension scheme without "quid pro quos" — particularly in light of the costs incurred by the cabin crew strike at the end of last month.

An expert panel appointed by the Government, Ibec, and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to examine the €750m-plus deficit in the pension scheme of Aer Lingus and the Dublin Airport Authority had widely been expected to present its final report on Monday.

Informed sources, however, have said that was still likely to be the case.

Meanwhile, details emerged yesterday of a letter from Aer Lingus chief executive Christoph Müller to the expert panel, asking that its delivery of the report be delayed.

In the letter, Mr Müller expressed “extreme” concerns about draft proposals recently released to the parties by the panel, particularly in the light of the airline’s expected 20% reduction in its 2014 profit expectations due to the cabin crew strike at the end of May.

As a result, he said, that put “very real constraints” on what could be put to the shareholders.

The airline chief executive said while unions have sought more than the €110m the airline has committed to the pension situation for existing workers and €30m for “deferred” members of the scheme, the company’s actuaries believed €93m would be enough to meet the target benefits set by a previous Labour Court recommendation on the issue.

Mr Müller said the airline was concerned there was not a full appreciation among the panel of the “criticality” of the requirement to firstly maintain the integrity of the cost stabilisation measures set out in that court recommendation and secondly, secure additional cost reduction/ “avoidance” measures or adjustments to existing working arrangements in return for any additional funding.

Meanwhile talks in the dispute between Irish Rail and its workers over its cost-saving plan have concluded.

A document has been produced after four days of negotiations which SIPTU and the NBRU have taken away to consider.

Trade unions have already rejected Labour Court recommendations, which included temporary pay cuts, and were facing a threat of unilateral cuts from the rail company.