Dave is a technical worker who voted to accept the Aer Lingus offer which, in his case, was £59,000. Of this figure, £47,000 will be tax free.

There is no doubt in his mind that he has done the right thing. "I showed the letter to my wife and she said - as an independent observer - that I had no choice. I am either voting for a job or I am not."

He says he has no doubt that Aer Lingus will carry through its threat to quit the maintenance business and make 80 per cent of the workforce redundant if the FLS deal collapses. This was outlined several times in letters to employees. Dave (not his real name) says "you don't put things like that on paper and not carry them out".

He looks at Aer Lingus where the company is trying to make savings of £50 million. He believes that somewhere, something will have to give. "At least with FLS there is some future; with TEAM there is none," he says.

He says that the Aer Lingus offer is the best deal on offer and, from his contacts with FLS workers elsewhere, he is satisfied the company is a good employer which treats its employees well. A technical worker, he has been in Aer Lingus for 30 years and several of his children are in third-level education. The offer the company is making, taking into account his years of service, is, he believes a very fair one. "I think I am being treated very fairly, and so does the outside world," he says.

"Hopefully, the future with FLS will be better than the past with TEAM," he says.