SR Technics head holds out no hope for unions

AVIATION:CONSULTATIONS WITH trade unions are not likely to prevent 1,135 redundancies at the Dublin base of airline maintenance firm SR Technics, the company's chief executive said yesterday.

Bernd Kessler said that because of the serious economic challenges facing the aviation industry he did not believe initiatives such as staff pay cuts or shorter working hours could avert the closure of the plant.

“It is not something we would consider,” he said.

Mr Kessler said the recent loss of major contracts and the high cost of operating in Ireland highlighted that there is no future for the firm’s operations in Dublin.

“We believe the current cost of operating [in Ireland] is about 20 per cent over what the market is willing to pay,” he said.

Siptu, the largest union at SR Technics, said that the scale of the lay-offs announced yesterday came as a shock but the union intended to use the 30-day consultation process with management to do its “utmost to save jobs”.

Branch organiser Pat Ward said he was hopeful that about 200 jobs in the line-maintenance division could be salvaged if SR Technics could successfully outsource contracts to another firm.

Some 1,075 permanent staff and 60 apprentices are facing redundancy following yesterday’s announcement.

Redundancy terms have not yet been revealed and formal notice of termination is to be sent to employees on March 14th.

SR Technics, formerly known as FLS, Team Aer Lingus and Aer Lingus Maintenance, lost three aircraft maintenance contracts with Aer Lingus last year.

Last week, one of the company’s largest customers, Gulf Air, announced it was terminating a maintenance contract from June.

Dermot O’Loughlin of Siptu said that the Government, considering it has a 25 per cent stake in Aer Lingus, should step in to try and retain employment at the plant rather than sitting “idly by”.

“We’re calling on the Government to step in right away, no taskforce, no messing about, just put this business back on track,” Mr O’Loughlin said. “They can see fit to put €7 billion into banks and they can’t see fit to try and survive a company that is truly Irish in its nature and workforce.”

SR Technics management met unions and workers in Dublin yesterday morning following talks on Wednesday between Mr Kessler and Tánaiste Mary Coughlan on the “serious difficulties” facing the company.

Staff entered the meeting saying they expected to be asked to take a pay cut, or that the company may have been seeking some redundancies, but their reaction was one of complete shock when it emerged the plant was to close.

“The people my age and like me, where are we going to go to get another position?” asked Noel Sinnott, who has worked at the plant for 31 years.

“What am I going to do now? What’s my family going to do?”

Mr Kessler said the group was announcing this “deeply regrettable and difficult step” only after an “exhaustive evaluation” of all strategic options.

“We looked at it from all angles,” Mr Kessler said. “We looked at the potential selling off of the company, but there was no interest in that. We looked for management buy-ins and we tried to find new business lines, but it was not viable financially.

“We all need to realise this is not a crisis that will go away in one or two years. It will have a significant and lasting impact on the airline industry for many years.”

Ms Coughlan said the announcement came as a severe blow to the workers and their families, but welcomed that 200 people employed by SR Technics in Cork would not lose their jobs.

She said she had asked State agencies to ensure that everything possible is done to assist those workers affected.

Fine Gael TD for North Dublin James Reilly described the job losses as catastrophic news which would “have a spiralling effect on the area” as revenue is removed from the local economy and SR Technics’ suppliers lose business and further jobs.