GROUPS REPRESENTING Aer Lingus staff have accused the company of planning to outsource jobs, a claim that Aer Lingus denies, insisting that two joint ventures in the UK and US do not represent an outsourcing of jobs.
Addressing the Oireachtas committee on transport yesterday, Capt Evan Cullen, president of the Irish Airline Pilots Association,said a “veil of secrecy” surrounded the airline’s plans for the UK and the US.
Capt Cullen said the airline’s policy of treating staff as self employed meant that Aer Lingus could effectively take on staff on offshore contracts, thereby avoiding tax within Ireland.
He said that, while the association was currently involved in negotiations with Aer Lingus in the LRC, all concessions by the pilots were “conditional on the end to the current outsourcing and the planned outsourcing” of jobs.
A representative of Aer Lingus cabin crew, Barry Cunningham, said the airline had this week advertised for cabin crew staff in the US. “The threat to move the whole Aer Lingus operation out of Ireland is very real,” he said.
However, Michael Grealy, director of human resources and organisational change with Aer Lingus, said the company had no plans to outsource jobs.
He said the company had entered into joint ventures with UK company Astraeus and US-based United Airlines but added that “not one single Aer Lingus job” would be lost as a result of the ventures.
When questioned by the committee on whether the Government had approved these plans, Mr Grealy said that both the restructuring plan and the planned UK and US ventures had been approved by the Aer Lingus board, which included three Government members, a reflection of the Government’s 25 per cent stake in the company.
However, Capt Cullen argued that Irish pilots would not be able to apply for jobs in the US due to visa restrictions.
He said pilots had misgivings about the airline’s restructuring plan.
Enda Corneille, director of corporate affairs, said Aer Lingus would face a bleak future if the restructuring plan was not adopted.
This could include the grounding and selling of additional long-haul and short-haul aircraft; a significant reduction in schedule, including the termination of loss-making routes and compulsory redundancies in all employee areas at greatly reduced terms.
He said the current restructuring had to be taken in the context of the unprecedented downturn in the Irish and global economies.
The company experienced losses of €93 million in the first half of this year.
In relation to Shannon airport, Mr Corneille said Aer Lingus remained committed to preserve the region as an important catchment area in its network, but said that losses at Shannon are a grave concern.
“We are looking at a variety of options of how we can secure services throughout the year,” Mr Corneille said, adding that there may be a gap in the market for short-haul operations in March 2010.
Earlier this week, Ryanair announced it would cut 17 routes from Shannon from the end of March with the loss of 150 jobs.
