Up to 80 per cent of the TEAM workers are now believed to have accepted the Aer Lingus offer to buy out their letters of guarantee. The official deadline expired last week - but was then left open to other employees wanting to accept - and a steady trickle of acceptances have come in.
By last week's deadline, 72 per cent of TEAM employees had voted to accept the £54.5 million offer to buy out their letters. This will pave the way for the sale of the aircraft maintenance subsidiary to FLS Industries, a Danish-based group with aerospace operations.
When the votes were counted last week, Aer Lingus left the offer open. The company is expected to meet the FLS chairman, Mr Steffen Harpoth, when he returns from holidays next week. It is thought that this will probably constitute the final deadline for acceptance of the offer.
Tax and pension specialists have been on hand at Dublin airport for several weeks to advise TEAM employees on any queries they may have. They will leave the plant today.
When last week's votes were counted, 1,100 of TEAM's 1,550 employees accepted the offer. Under the terms, they will agree to transfer to FLS, in return for surrendering their letters of guarantee of employment at Aer Lingus and other rights. Workers on average are receiving £32,500.
Many TEAM employees are, or have been, on holidays and may not have returned their letters of acceptance yet. The precise number of acceptances will not be known until an official cut-off date is agreed. The letters are being sent to the facilitator of the TEAM talks, Mr Gerry Durkan, a senior counsel.
However, some sources believe that the figure currently stands at around 80 per cent, up considerably from last week's figure, but still leaving several hundred who have not accepted.
Union and management sources maintain that there will be a bloc of TEAM staff who will not accept the offer. Aer Lingus has said there is only jobs for about 40 TEAM workers.
The airline has also made it clear that it will not operate on the basis of first in, last out, to decide which of the returning workers will be retained.
How Aer Lingus handles this remains to be seen. It is thought that a number of cases could eventually end up in the High Court.
