Union leaders at budget airline Buzz meet management today to seek assurances about the future of staff following the takeover of the company by Ryanair.
They have expressed particular concern about a reported threat by Ryanair's chief executive, Mr Michael O'Leary, to shut the Buzz operation if staff refuse to accept Ryanair working practices.
Ryanair's acquisition of Buzz from the Dutch national airline, KLM, at the end of January came as a shock to the two Buzz unions, the TGWU and the British Airline Pilots' Association (BALPA).
Mr Jim McAuslan of BALPA, said the move had "taken everyone completely by surprise". BALPA's members at the airline had recently agreed a restructuring deal, and integration into Ryanair would not be easy, he said.
The TGWU, which represents cabin crew and other staff at Buzz, said Mr O'Leary's attitude to trade unions was "well known". It said he would have to understand, however, that the union would do everything it could to protect its members' interests.
The two unions are to meet the KLM chief executive, Mr Floris van Pallandt, today, to outline their concerns. KLM remains in control of Buzz while a due diligence procedure continues.
The takeover by Ryanair is due to be completed by April 1st.
The Irish airline has already announced its intention to seek 100 redundancies from the 570 staff at Buzz after an initial examination into what would be required to secure immediate profits from a business that lost €30 million in each of the past two years.
Asked if Ryanair, which does not deal with unions in the Republic, would meet the Buzz unions, a spokeswoman for the company said last night that no such meeting had been requested.
The company's response yesterday to a separate BALPA statement, however, suggests it intends to bypass the unions and deal directly with staff, in line with its policy elsewhere.
BALPA said it would re-ballot Ryanair pilots in 18 months time in a renewed attempt to secure union recognition from the company. The union failed to win recognition in 2001, when fewer than 20 per cent of Ryanair pilots voted in favour of representation by BALPA. The Ryanair spokeswoman said BALPA had not been successful 18 months ago and it would fail again.
Mr O'Leary has said his widely quoted ultimatum to Buzz staff - work to Ryanair rules or we will close the airline - is not quite what he said. Rather it was that unless the Ryanair "formula" could be brought to bear to turn Buzz around over the next couple of months, it would be closed.
Ryanair also denied a report circulated yesterday that it had decided to close Buzz's services from London Stansted to the three German airports of Frankfurt, Dusseldorf and Berlin. The spokeswoman said the company was in discussions with all of the airports used by Buzz and no decisions had been taken. She said it was likely, however, that services to high-cost airports like Charles de Gaulle and Schipol would close.
