SIPTU OFFICIALS are to hold talks with senior management of a ground handling and maintenance operations firm today in an attempt to prevent 150 new redundancies at Dublin airport.
Representatives from Aviance, the firm which yesterday announced the redundancies, are travelling from the UK to discuss proposals aimed at reversing its decision to cease its Irish operations from the end of March.
Siptu's civil aviation sectoral organiser Dermot O'Loughlin confirmed that the union had been given an opportunity to draw up a business plan and that the firm was considering its suggestions ahead of the meeting today.
"They are giving consideration to a proposal we drew up towards the end of last week and we are hopeful that this episode will have a successful outcome for all the workers at the company," Mr O'Loughlin said.
Aviance said the decision to pull out of Dublin was due to fundamental changes in its business model and customer profile.
The firm employs a total of 4,500 staff in its operations in airports in Britain and Dublin. It has been operating out of Dublin since 1989 under a number of different names. It was renamed Aviance about a decade ago.
"A full review of the Aviance UK and Ireland business was recently carried out, which demonstrated that the cost base and customer profile could not be sustained within the Dublin business model," Aviance said.
"The circumstances which necessitate the closure are not unique to Dublin or to Aviance UK and Ireland and are a result of the current economic climate which has had a global impact on the aviation industry."
Accounts for Aviance UK Ltd, filed in the Companies Office in Dublin, show that its turnover in Ireland for the 12 months to the end of June 2007 declined to €6 million from €6.33 million a year earlier.
Industry sources claim that the company, which recognises trade unions and offers sick pay and pension schemes, has become unable to compete with companies which offered lower pay, fewer benefits for staff and more competitive rates to their clients at the airport.
If the proposed redundancies do go ahead, the company said its Dublin airport employees will be assisted in finding other jobs.
It added that workers would receive redundancy payments and that a 90-day consultation period involving unions had now commenced.
Fine Gael transport spokesman Fergus O'Dowd said the redundancies in the aviation sector would be another "sign of the times" the country is currently experiencing.
"It's a very disappointing development. This is another indication that we are losing our competitive edge and that high costs are affecting companies and hitting their employees."