Madam, - I am concerned that Siptu and its members were characterised in your Editorial "Aer Lingus back on course" (October 15th) as people who do not accept the need for change. Even the company accepts that our members have contributed to significant change over recent years, including the rescue of the airline itself.
The Editorial also recycled the myth of baggage handlers earning up to €110,000. Despite repeated requests from Siptu, Aer Lingus management has never produced any evidence that these exist. In the unlikely event that they do, is possible that Aer Lingus is in serious breach of the Organisation of Working Time Act, given the excessive hours one would have to work to earn such money.
According to the company's own recent figures, the average basic pay of Aer Lingus operatives is €33,000 and average gross earnings are €43,000 a year. Rates for operatives start as low as €21,000, yet under the PCI-07 plan the company wants to cut earnings by an estimated €4,000 to €5,000 for many employees by reducing shift pay, etc, not to mention reductions in annual leave and increased working hours for some grades.
In contrast, the company has set up an incentive plan to provide large bonuses for around 40 senior managers who succeed in meeting profit targets based on cutting the pay of ordinary employees. The chief executive, Dermot Mannion, was awarded a package worth €982,000 by the Aer Lingus board this summer. Now the company has compounded matters by imposing a freeze on payments due under the National Pay Agreement, as well as increments due under the employment contract.
Siptu makes no apologies for representing its members. The company has made a profit in each of the past 12 years, apart from 2001, which was a disaster for the whole aviation sector. It did so thanks in no small part to the commitment of our members and their acceptance of major change, much of it painful.
In recent years the union and its members have shouldered more than their share of the burden, but it is hard to be advocates of change in a situation where management plans ensure the sacrifices fall entirely on ordinary workers.
I believe it is unfair and unhelpful to characterise our concerns as some form of mindless militancy. - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL HALPENNY,
National Industrial Secretary,
Siptu,
Liberty Hall,
Dublin 1..