This article is from page 3 of the 2008-10-07 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
SHANNON’S 300 Aer Lingus work- ers are to be asked to ballot on all out industrial action after hearing they are to be axed from the company Or NeRO ee
Responding to management plans to outsource all ground operations and introduce a pay freeze, SIPTU National Industrial Secretary Gerry McCormack said the plan “repre- sents a fire sale of good quality jobs by a management that can see no fur- ther 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 cul- ture’ and a pay freeze until the end of 2009. The company has also told us that it will continue to seek further savings so that surviving staff face the prospect of further reductions in pay and conditions.”
SIPTU representatives were offi- cially informed of the clean sweep of eround staff at a meeting with man- agement yesterday. It will mean 1,500 people being axed from the company payroll, 300 of them at Shannon.
The core of the package will see all ground operations, including ca- tering, cleaning and check-in out- sourced to third-party agencies.
Cabin crew based in Heathrow and Shannon are also victims of the cuts which are part of a plan to stem mas-
sive losses experienced by the airline in the last twelve months.
All staff will be subject to a pay freeze until late 2009.
“We are perfectly willing to discuss savings with the company and will be
entering the process to be chaired by Kevin Foley of the Labour Relations Commission. But, as we have made clear from the start, we are totally opposed to outsourcing. That mes- sage does not seem to have gotten
through to the management team and therefore we are in the place we are in,’ Mc Cormack said.
Meetings with shop stewards were on-going last night as the details of the jobs carnage were clearly out-
lined.
A SIPTU spokesman said that cab- in crew are the only ones who will be offered the direct option of taking up other employment with the airline.
“Everything on the ground is being cut. There will be a voluntary redun- dancy package on offer, where staff can decide to take a lump sum and then seek re-employment with the new agency, but there is no guarantee that they will be taken on. The other option is to stay on and to transfer to the new employer but there is no guarantee with that of how long it will be before the new employer re- negotiates contracts, probably with lower wages.”
Clerical staff will largely not be facing job losses, but it’s thought that they will have to enter talks on new contracts with pay being perform- ance related and possibly a change in the pensions scheme which will pos- sibly be contribution driven.
The company has told the unions it wants the deal wrapped up by No- vember 30 and the new scheme ready to go by December 1, a dateline that would allow the airline to carry out the changes during the traditionally flat business period in January and onarles