Catering staff at Aer Lingus will move for industrial action, throughout the company, if chief executive Mr Willie Walsh acts on his threat to jettison the catering division.
The 300-strong catering workforce said it intends to "target" this Thursday's Aer Lingus board meeting in the next phase of its protest campaign against the planned outsourcing of the catering department.
Staff will be balloted on strike action if Mr Walsh does not reverse his decision.
The Aer Lingus chief outlined his intention to jettison the catering division at a board meeting at the beginning of March. At the time, Mr Walsh would not confirm if the decision was final. However, he said it was impossible for the airline to continue providing its own catering facilities.
SIPTU, the union representing catering staff, was informed of the situation and, according to catering shop steward Ms Clare Daly, they have had no talks with management since.
"We have written to Mr Walsh, we've requested meetings, but we've been ignored. We have no choice but to protest."
The catering division mounted its first picket of head office this week and intends to escalate action, to the point of all-out strike, until it is given assurances that catering workers will be protected.
"If we have to resort to a strike, it won't just be the catering area. We have the support of the other airline employees who realise we are a test case and the threat of redundancies will very quickly come to their doors."By targeting catering staff, Mr Walsh was "trampling" on commitments made in the company's survival plan, Ms Daly said.
"He said at the time the survival plan was agreed that outsourcing was off the agenda. History has spoken and the company is €91 million up as a result of the plan, but it was the staff that made it viable. We lost 100 staff, we took on extra work and we agreed to pay freezes. Now he's trying to get rid of us. . ." Ms Daly said that in her opinion the company was being broken down and primed for a total sell-off and no division in the company could support such a move. "If Willie Walsh continues to pursue this agenda, backed up by the Government, then inevitably industrial action will follow."
