Union representatives from TEAM Aer Lingus will meet FLS chairman, Mr Steffen Harpoth, this morning to seek assurances on staffing and pay rates, before they decide whether to vote to transfer to the new company. It emerged yesterday that should the FLS deal fall through, Aer Lingus will retain just 20 per cent of the current 1500-strong workforce. The company would no longer carry out aircraft maintenance, but would need some employees for line or day-to-day maintenance of its fleet.
FLS has said it wants all the workers to accept the Aer Lingus offer of £54.5 million to buy out the letters of guarantee, which more than 900 employees hold. This guarantees them a job in Aer Lingus should anything happen to TEAM. It also emerged late yesterday that the deadline for acceptance of the offer to staff from Aer Lingus has been extended from tomorrow to Friday. This is because letters were sent to all TEAM employees yesterday formally confirming that they have the option if they move to FLS of retaining an Aer Lingus pension and it was felt that they should have a couple of extra days to consider this. It is believed that FLS would be prepared to do a deal if 80-85 per cent of TEAM employees agreed terms to transfer to the Danish company. Sources last night remained pessimistic that the vote - now postponed to Friday - would achieve much more than a 60 per cent acceptance. This would be unlikely to be enough to achieve a deal.
A short agenda for the crucial meeting at 11 a.m. in Dublin was sent to Mr Harpoth yesterday. The unions are seeking assurances that there will be no involuntary redundancies and also want a 2.5 per cent pay rise, due under Partnership 2000, to be paid as soon as they transfer to the new company. This was due to be deferred until November.
Union representatives will be meeting Mr Harpoth for only the second time as a group since FLS expressed an interest in TEAM. It is understood they will also seek to have the terms of redundancy agreed under the Cahill Plan - the five-year rescue package for the airline - made applicable at TEAM. This is believed to amount to around six weeks pay per year of service and is said to be designed to make the redundancy option a less attractive one for the employer.
Employees are due to vote whether to accept the offer from Aer Lingus by Friday. The offer has been re-issued to 930 of the 1500 employees who did not return their papers when the offer was first made last month.
It is thought likely that the trade unions will seek some form of written assurances from Mr Harpoth on the issues raised when they meet him today.
Yesterday, Aer Lingus again appealed to workers to accept the offer and stressed that if the sale to FLS did not happen, then within two months Aer Lingus would begin its "exit programme" from the aircraft maintenance business. No more than 20 per cent of the current TEAM workforce would be needed and would include a cross section of employees drawn from craft and administrative areas.
The letter provoked an angry response form Mr Frank O'Reilly chairman of the Aer Lingus Craft Group of Trade Unions. In a letter to Minister for Public Enterprise Ms O'Rourke, he accused her of making misleading statements and said that Aer Lingus had used intimidatory tactics. These tactics, he said, were designed to suggest that TEAM would be wound down if employees "declined to accept the loss of Aer Lingus employment".
