RYANAIR HAS WRITTEN to Aer Lingus offering to provide fully-staffed aircraft in order to ensure flight services are not disrupted, after talks at the Labour Relations Commission on a major pensions deficit broke down yesterday.
Industrial action from SIPTU staff now seems almost certain, after the talks were adjourned indefinitely yesterday with no agreement on how to tackle the €748 million deficit that has accrued in the pension fund run by Aer Lingus and the Dublin Airport Authority.
This afternoon Ryanair – which owns a 29.4 per cent stake in Aer Lingus – wrote to its rival supporting its stance in refusing to make any additional contributions to the pension fund, describing the unions’ calls as “industrial blackmail”.
It also offered to provide fully-staffed aircraft to ensure that any strike from SIPTU workers did not have to result in a total loss of services.
In its statement Ryanair said the pensions schemes “were already topped up with €104 million of shareholder funds” when Aer Lingus was floated on the stock exchange in 2006, and both the unions and employees had agreed at that time that the airline’s contributions would be fixed afterwards.
“Ryanair regards this latest attempt by Aer Lingus unions to bully the airline into making further unjustified contributions to Aer Lingus’ defined contribution pension schemes as industrial blackmail,” it said.
“Should the Aer Lingus unions again attempt to blackmail the airline using threats of industrial action, then Ryanair will provide Aer Lingus with as many short-haul aircraft at market rates as the airline needs to enable it to continue to fly”.
Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara also called on David Begg, the general secretary of the trade union umbrella body ICTU – who is a board member of Aer Lingus – to confirm that he supported the position being taken by the airline on the matter.
SIPTU officials were due to meet today to discuss the options available to staff, though it is likely that notice will be served for strike action at some point in the next month as there are now no other avenues through which the conflict can be resolved.
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