This article is from page 2 of the 2008-09-23 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
WORKERS at Aer Lingus in Shan- non may have to wait another two weeks before knowing their fate in the company’s cost-slashing plan.
It’s feared that up to 300 jobs could be under threat at the airport as Aer Lingus trys to find ways to cut costs by €100 million in the wake of huge company losses in the last year.
But a meeting of the airline’s board of management last week failed to reach a decision on a review of the company’s operations.
The board will not meet again for two weeks and in the meantime, Aer Lingus boss, Dermot Mannion has written to SIPTU, warning that he
“cannot rule out any eventuality”.
SIPTU had written to the chief executive seeking assurances that speculation about out-sourcing jobs is not correct.
Mannion replied that he “can not give the assurances you seek”.
He said that “given the level of me- dia speculation and the concerns this causes for staff, I fully appreciate the need to expedite the completion of our review as soon as possible.”
He added that a senior manage- ment team are working around the clock to have proposals ready for the next board meeting.
It has been speculated that the air- line will seek to outsource 1,500 jobs nationally, mainly in ground
handling, cargo and catering.
It is also thought that they may want to replace transatlantic cabin crew staff with agency staff from the US.
The airline is also reportedly chas- ing a deal with Shannon Airport management to cut passenger charg- es on the transatlantic routes.
A planned announcement on the nature of the cuts had been expected after a lenghty board meeting last week, but the announcement was cancelled at the eleventh hour.
It was thought that the board would make the announcement to the stock exchange before meeting with staff.
Senior management representa- tives had travelled to Shannon and
Cork for the announcement but re- turned to base after the board meet- ing, which was scheduled to end at 1.30pm, went on for eight hours, fuelling speculation that the mem- bers could not agree on the cost-sav- Three
Staff and unions have just come through a heated dispute about the airline’s Programme for Continuous Improvement cost-cutting package.
Unions have sounded a scepti- cal note on claims concerning the boards agreement.
It is believed in union circles that had the board got unanimous agree- ment on the cuts then they would have immediately engaged in nego- tiations.