€1.5m to Aer Lingus CEO doesn’t add up

TGIF, or ‘Thank God it’s Friday’, may run through the mind of Aer Lingus CEO Cristoph Mueller this Friday: he stands to net €1.5m at the company’s AGM, or at least have this rubber-stamped by the shareholders.

IMPACT official Matt Staunton has written to Transport Minister Leo Varadkar outlining the union’s dismay at a pay package of €1.5m, which included an increase in the company contribution rate to Mueller’s pension, from 25% to 40% on a base salary of €450,000.

It is shocking that Mueller can trouser €1.5m, while Aer Lingus workers could face imposed co-ordination (the loss of the value of the State pension in the amount of €12,000), in addition to a cut of 20% in benefits, as well as moving from a defined benefit to a defined contribution scheme.