In mid-October, Aer Lingus was pulled back from the brink of a potential lock-out, when management and the pilots’ union agreed on terms and conditions for pilots at the new Aer Lingus base in Belfast and established a framework for how the opening of more of these bases will be dealt with in the future.
It is no secret that management at the company want to open a base in Eastern Europe as soon as possible, to be followed by one in the United States.
With the virtual closing of operations in Shannon, following the transfer of the Heathrow slots from Shannon to Belfast, there is absolutely nothing to stop a similar move being made from Dublin. This is clearly Irish Ferries part two. A crisis is unfolding at Aer Lingus which reveals the total bankruptcy of privatisation.
For over 70 years Aer Lingus operated as a national carrier, providing an important link for Irish people and business to cities all over Europe and to the US. Thousands of people were employed, generating in the 1980s alone, more taxation than all the farmers in the country. On top of that the company itself was a net contributor to the exchequer, repaying any investment many times over.
Yet within months of the privatisation of the company it is in crisis - over 300,000 passengers in the west of Ireland have been abandoned without a connection to Heathrow, and 50 workers are to lose their jobs. Management has made it clear that its only purpose is to make money for shareholders. To that end, there is nothing to stop them moving the entire operation out of Ireland, if they feel there is more money to be made from even lower wage rates outside Ireland. There is a major battle unfolding over the right to decent jobs and conditions.
In a letter to every staff member, chief executive Dermot Mannion said that as their Program for Continuous Improvement PCI07 agenda had not been implemented he was implementing a pay freeze, by withholding the 2% due now under the national wage agreement and a further 5% of agreed increases due in April.
The response from the unions was to go crying to the National Implementation Body to demand that the pay increases are paid, and to say that they accept that we have to be competitive, but not by taking money out of peoples’ pockets!
PCI07 is a vicious attack on pay and conditions, a race to the bottom. They are seeking to increase the working day to 37.5 hours excluding breaks, in return for changes to shift pay and so on, that would take about €5000 from each workers annual pay. They want to take back all the gains in terms and conditions of employment that were fought for over decades.
Dermot Mannion continually states that Aer Lingus must be competitive. This is another way of saying that he will impose a race to the bottom in the company in wages and conditions in order to compete with the likes of Ryanair.
SIPTU’s leaders have put their faith in the National Implementation Body (NIB) to solve this crisis. The last time the SIPTU leaders went down this road to solve a major industrial dispute it resulted in the sell out and defeat of the Irish Ferries workers!
A battle by Aer Lingus workers will have to be waged on this issue. They can have no faith in the NIB or anybody else - their fate lies in their own hands.
Dermot Mannion has thrown down the gauntlet and the workers and unions must meet his challenge head on. United militant action is the only way to defeat management and protect the jobs, wages and working conditions of the Aer Lingus staff.
