Letters of acceptance of a £54.6 million package will be sent out this morning to the homes of 1,550 TEAM Aer Lingus workers. This is to secure their agreement to the company's takeover by FLS.
TEAM employees will have two weeks to decide whether to accept the proposals, which provide an average payment of over £35,000 to each of them.
In return some 1,200 employees will have to surrender the commitments given to them in "Letters of Guarantee" issued by Aer Lingus when TEAM was established eight years ago. Those letters committed Aer Lingus to retaining a 51 per cent stakeholding in its aircraft maintenance subsidiary, and to taking back into regular Aer Lingus employment any staff seconded to TEAM.
Aer Lingus now wants to sell TEAM to FLS, a Danish conglomerate which will buy the company only if the "Letters of Guarantee" issue is resolved. TEAM employees will retain their existing working conditions and pay in the transfer to FLS.
The letters of acceptance were originally due to be sent out three weeks ago, but have been delayed because of wrangles involving lawyers representing the company and various groups of employees.
These relate mainly to such issues as pension provisions and how the lump sums will be paid.
Aer Lingus has warned that it will require the agreement of the overwhelming majority of TEAM employees to the terms offered to make the sale of the company to FLS possible.