Aer Lingus will close down its aircraft maintenance subsidiary, TEAM, and make most of its staff redundant if employees do not accept a buy-out offer from the Danish company, FLS, within the next four weeks, management has told unions. TEAM employees have rejected a £54.5 million offer from FLS for "letters of comfort" which assure them of continued employment with Aer Lingus.
The meeting between management and unions ended yesterday after two hours. Management saying they would meet the unions again and talk with employees directly to try to persuade them to return their letters of comfort.
Mr John Behan of Aer Lingus said there was "a window of opportunity" for TEAM which would expire within four weeks.
"It's generally accepted now by everybody that TEAM isn't going to be a viable enterprise if it stands alone. If it stands alone all the jobs are at risk. The FLS offer is how we can save the jobs and this is what we're asking people to consider over the next few weeks.
"If at the end of that period the FLS proposition isn't accepted, we will have no choice but to recommend to the board that TEAM be wound down.
"One of the fundamentals of our approach is to protect the airline. That number of staff returning to the airline would fundamentally damage its cost base. The airline would no longer be competitive. We just couldn't allow that".
Asked if he would recommend a shutdown of TEAM even if it meant 1,550 people would lose their jobs, Mr Behan said: "We have to look at how many people will be out of work if it doesn't happen."
He said there was no question of FLS increasing the amount of money it was offering for the return of the letters of comfort.
"Certain aspects of the offer are causes of concern to the employees - pensions and travel and a variety of issues of that nature. We will clarify those to the workforce directly and make sure they understand the consequences of their decision."
Mr Eamon Devoy, co-ordinator of the unions representing employees in TEAM Aer Lingus, said there were still major issues to be discussed, such as who would maintain the Aer Lingus fleet if a majority of TEAM employees did not return their letters of comfort.
"The employees have made one decision already. Perhaps they'll change their mind, but the final decision rests with them because they've got individual letters of guarantee."
Asked if 1,550 jobs were likely to be lost, Mr Devoy said: "One way or another, I suspect not. It comes as a surprise that the management of Aer Lingus have come along today to say that they will close the company, but the experience of industrial relations in this company, going back to 1994, should make it no surprise.
"They've operated on the basis of the carrot-and-stick method before and they're applying that method again today."
Mr Michael Keating, general secretary of the AGEMOU, said he was not shocked by the ultimatum.
"The whole tenor of the conversations that we've been having over the last few months was that TEAM could not exist as a standalone company.
"The situation is extremely serious, but there's still work to be done. Part of the letters of guarantee say that the workers in Aer Lingus have the right to service the Aer Lingus fleet."
Responding to a question in the Dail, the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, said her Department had been contacted by the businessman, Mr Ulick McEvaddy, "who indicated that his company may be interested in TEAM Aer Lingus".
"It remains to be seen whether and how Mr McEvaddy follows up on this approach," the Minister concluded.
