SR Technics to lay off up to 700 workers next month

The management of troubled aviation firm SR Technics has told unions it intends to terminate the contracts of up to 600 workers at the company’s aircraft maintenance facility in Dublin airport early next month.

Union sources told The Irish Timesthat  management informed union representatives at a tense meeting in Dublin today that it will issue minimum terms of notice to more than half of the 1,100 staff on April 3rd next as part of its plan to close the flagship plant.

Under the management’s plan, a further 100 are to be kept on until the middle of April, with the remaining 400 workers employed as part of the winding-down of the operation until August 31st, the source said.

Following the three-and-a-half hour meeting, trade union Siptu said no progress had been made in the dispute over the proposed closure of the plant and the talks had now been referred to the Labour Relations Commission because of “the entrenched position taken by management.”

Describing the talks as “very charged and emotive”, Siptu branch organiser Pat Ward said both sides had agreed to resume negotiations under the aegis of the LRC next Tuesday morning at 11am.

“The company told us they were not in a position to improve on their redundancy offer of less than one week on top of the statutory entitlements to the workers. Some of our members have worked for over 40 years at the plant,” Mr Ward said. “Nor was the company prepared to give undertakings to meet the shortfall in the pension fund. Its representatives would not even confirm or deny the figure of €26 million given for the shortfall in media reports.

“In the circumstances there was no point in continuing negotiations at local level, so we have referred the dispute to the LRC. Meanwhile we will be actively exploring all means of preventing the closure on the plant on Tuesday week,” he said.

In a statement tonight, SR Technics said it has "fully and constructively" engaged with unions and insisted its primary objective "has been to find an equitable outcome for the workforce that reflects the commercial realities which the SR Technic's Group faces and the financial constraints which it is under".

It confirmed it has received a number of approaches from third parties over its operations in Dublin. All of these proposals will be considered in detail, the company said.

Management met with Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise Mary Coughlan earlier this afternoon to discuss the future of the company.

Both IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland are believed to be assessing up to 16 proposals to rescue the company, and have hired an external consultant to manage the process. One of the proposals is understood to involve a group of senior managers at the company who have teamed up with Irish private equity group Claret Capital.

At a meeting earlier today with IDA Ireland executives, Siptu officials raised concerns that it and other unions were being excluded from the process despite assurances it would be entitled to talk to potential bidders.

Tomorrow, a delegation from the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport will visit the beleaguered plant.

SR Technics staff were informed last week that the company's pension fund had a deficit of more than €26 million.

SR Technics workers are to stage a protest tomorrow morning. They will march from the Coachman's Inn in Cloghran at 11am to the old North Terminal in Dublin Airport.  Passengers flying in and out of the airport have been warned of possible delays.