Aer Lingus chief executive Dermot Mannion met with union representatives this afternoon to outline proposed cost-cutting measures at the loss-making airline, which include the loss of up to 1,500 jobs.
SIPTU, which is the largest trade union within Aer Lingus, said this evening that it intended to ballot union members on all out industrial action following the unveiling of the proposals today.
The airline has proposed outsourcing about 1,500 jobs from its ground operations and is also considering hiring crew from North America to staff its transatlantic flights.
Other savings are being sought, including the closure of services at Shannon and a 15-month pay-freeze for employees.
Aer Lingus has set a deadline of 1st November for the implementation of its €74m cost-cutting programme.
Responding to the airline's plans to outsource all ground operations and introduce a pay freeze and alternative terms and conditions for other staff, SIPTU national industrial secretary Gerry McCormack said the union "was totally opposed to outsourcing."
"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 culture' 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, not to mention redundancy," he said.
Last week, representatives from Siptu met management under the auspices of the Labour Relations Commission and told the company they will oppose outsourcing of any part of the operation.
Siptu general president Jack O'Connor warned at the weekend that the union would have to mount "the stiffest resistance possible to what is supposed to be proposed" by Aer Lingus.
Speaking after today's meeting, Impact trade union said it regarded Aer Lingus' proposals as "draconian and
severe".
Elsewhere, Fine Gael said this evening that any large-scale job cuts at Aer Lingus must have staff agreement.
"The survival of Aer Lingus is absolutely necessary to maintain a competitive airline industry in Ireland. However, the extent of the cost-cutting measures have understandably alarmed many working within the company. Management must make all efforts to find common agreement with its workforce," said Fine Gael's transport spokesman Fergus O'Dowd.
The Labour Party meanwhile described the proposed job losses as "truly shocking".
"Job losses on such a scale would mean that our national airline will be reduced to little more than a shell of its former self. What was once an international brand of recognised quality is now becoming just another low cost airline. It is a matter of particular concern that, at a time of rapid growth in unemployment in this country, a company in which the state holds a 25 per cent shareholding should be planning to outsource jobs — some of them abroad," said the party's spokesman on transport Tommy Broughan.
"Despite privatisation, the government retains an influential shareholding. It must use this to ensure that national interests are protected and in particular the maximum possible number of jobs are retained within the company," he added.
