Siptu alleges bullying at Aer Lingus

Further allegations about the industrial relations climate at Aer Lingus have been made in a new report fowarded to an Oireachtas committee.

The document from Siptu will be discussed today by members of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport. The document claims that some staff were demoralised and harassed long before the airline produced its business plan in July 2004.

"There were already complaints about what many of our members perceived as a negative industrial relations culture, notwithstanding the extensive co- operation of staff in the survival plan and the subsequent continuous change process," states the document.

The document claims that senior staff were written to just before Christmas 2003, "advising them of the need to apply for voluntary redundancy by a particular date".

The document also claims that in January 2004, the union wrote to the company complaining that a new performance management system was being imposed on these same staff.

The union also claims that in July 2004, seven members of staff had their jobs advertised without any consultation. The staff were superintendents, specialists and clerical post holders.

The latest claims are similar to ones included in a leaked document disclosed during the summer, which referred to various "push" factors that might be used to move staff out of the company. The airline has emphasised that the contents of this document were never implemented.

However Siptu, the largest union at Dublin airport, strongly disagrees and says that staff were made feel demoralised during the period from December 2003 right up until earlier this year. The document claims plans were drawn up to produce a new "cheap and cheerful" uniform for staff to wear.

The document was prepared in recent weeks by Siptu national industrial secretary Michael Halpenny. Members of the committee have had the document for the past fortnight. The company is expected to strongly defend itself against the claims.