STAFF AT Aer Lingus are to ballot for all-out industrial action in protest at a €74 million cost-saving plan put forward by management.
Siptu has described the plan, which would involve 1,500 job cuts through outsourcing or redundancy, as well as the introduction of a pay freeze and new contracts for staff, as "Irish Ferries Mark II". The trade union Impact, which represents cabin crew and pilots, said the proposals were "severe and draconian".
Aer Lingus has said that the measures are necessary to ensure the future viability of its operations. The company lost €22 million in the first six months of the year and has forecast a bigger loss for next year.
The company has said that unions could produce alternative proposals that would generate similar levels of savings. However, it wants an agreement in place by the end of November.
Under the proposals the airline would effectively eliminate its in-house ground operation (check-in and baggage handling), cargo and catering divisions at Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports. Staff in these areas would be offered a transfer to a new service provider or invited to take a voluntary redundancy package.
For cabin crew, Aer Lingus proposed closing down its bases in Shannon and Heathrow in London. Staff would be offered a transfer to Dublin or Cork.
It has also proposed that from next summer its services to Boston, New York and San Francisco would be operated by cabin crew recruited in the United States by the company on revised terms and conditions.
For staff remaining at Aer Lingus a pay freeze would be introduced until the end of 2009 under the proposals. The company also said that it intended to introduce new performance-based contracts for head office and support staff and abolish the current system of increments.
Siptu national industrial secretary Gerry McCormack said: "This is Irish Ferries Mark II. It represents a fire sale of good quality jobs by a management that can see no further than the next quarter's profit and loss sheet."
Mr McCormack said that the union was perfectly willing to discuss savings with the company and would be entering a 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."
Aer Lingus said that the proposed staff cuts would generate savings of €50 million. It also wants to save €14 million in advertising and distribution costs as well as a reduction in professional fees and airport charges. The airline also said that reducing the number of long-haul aircraft from nine to eight would generate a further €10 million in savings.
There was strong reaction to the proposed cuts in Shannon. Fine Gael's Joe Carey said: "This is a crushing blow for a region already hit hard over the past year." He said he hoped "the current crisis is not being used to sweep needless cutbacks under the radar".
Shannon-based Independent councillor Patricia McCarthy said 51 Aer Lingus jobs have already been lost at the airport this year and locals feared that "once more the airport is being singled out".