Ceann Comhairle, I welcome the opportunity to finally debate the critical threat to Aer Lingus jobs and our national strategic aviation connectivity in Dail Eireann today. I have asked for a Dail debate on this matter at least six times over the past two or three weeks. It is deplorable and very disappointing that it is only today that this request has finally been granted.
The threat to jobs and working conditions at Aer Lingus is now very serious. Aer Lingus management have reportedly set a two week deadline for agreement on a €97 million per annum cost cutting plan which includes the astonishing loss of 676 jobs in Dublin, Cork and Shannon.
This terrible news comes after an incredible direct haemorrhaging of several thousand aviation jobs over the past 18 months including at SR Technics, the Dublin Airport Authority and Ryanair. I understand that just around 93 SRT staff out of the total 1200 are now still employed in airline maintenance and engineering at Dublin Airport.
The Irish Examiner also reported this morning that 150 Ryanair jobs are to be cut at Shannon Airport by March next because the company is axing 17 more routes from Shannon.
Dublin, Cork and Shannon Airports are key economic dynamos in their regions. Thousands of further jobs in North and West Dublin, the Greater Leinster region and the Mid West also rely indirectly on the aviation sector and the maintenance of significant levels of employment in aviation.
The loss of another 676 jobs (including 489 pilot, cabin crew and ground staff and 187 back office jobs) at Aer Lingus would therefore be an absolute hammer blow to communities in Dublin, Cork and Shannon that are already under severe pressure. I’m sure most colleagues like myself have been contacted by numerous pilots, cabin crew and ground staff from all over the country who are shattered at the current proposals from Mr. Barrington and Mr. Mueller.
Aer Lingus staff believe that the current management plan could see paycuts of up to 40% for remaining workers. IMPACT cabin crew representatives this afternoon told the Oireachtas Dail Committee that the new terms would see new cabin crew start on as little as €16,754 per annum and rising to an incredibly low maximum rate of €18,754 pa.
Everybody (including staff and their representatives) acknowledge the massive difficulties in the aviation sector and the huge and often painful changes that are taking place in this industry. The merger announced last week between BA and Iberia is a clear example of this.
Aer Lingus management has posted losses of €93 million in the fist half of this year when traffic volumes increased but fares fell. The global and domestic recession has significantly impacted on the aviation industry. It has been estimated that the global aviation business will lose €11 billion this year.
But the suspicion remains that the current turmoil in the industry may be being used by the new Aer Lingus management team to implement a savage and severe programme of cutbacks with an underlying agenda for the outsourcing of pilots and crew.
There is already a disturbing move towards outsourcing at the company with the use of non-Aer Lingus Astreaus crews on Aer Lingus planes flying out of Belfast. Can the Minister enlighten us on the use of Astraeus airlines by Aer Lingus and how the terms and conditions of Astraeus crews differ from Aer Lingus workers? Did the government appointed directors to the Aer Lingus board brief the Minister on the Astraeus programme? Has the Minister approved this development?
Staff rightly fear that this is the start of their replacement by contracted staff on massively reduced pay and working conditions. What is equally as disturbing is the so-called Project Greenfield as devised by the new CEO Mr. Christoph Mueller and Executive Chairman Mr. Colm Barrington. A core part of this proposal is the transfer of Aer Lingus to the UK aviation register. This would in effect mean that Aer Lingus becomes primarily a British based airline on the UK CAA Register with a huge negative impact on jobs and connectivity in Ireland.
We need to know this evening if the Minister as the Minister been briefed on "Project Greenfield"? Did the Minister in fact approve Project Greenfield through the three Aer Lingus directors that he appointed to the Board? Does the Minister support the use of what has been described as in effect offshore labour for pilots and cabin crew exactly as happened in the case of Irish Ferries and as happens in Ryanair? It is incredible that the Minister would support this and that Irish tax and legal social obligations could potentially be at least partially avoided at a company where the state has a 25% stakeholding.
It is indisputable that Aer Lingus staff have already made huge sacrifices though the implementation of a series of previous cost-cutting plans. Aer Lingus staff have repeatedly accepted and implemented plans that have included pay cuts, job cuts, changed working conditions and greatly increased productivity.
Aer Lingus workers have consistently changed their work practices and agreed to proposals in order to protect this vital company. In fact in 2008 staff proposed 4-8% pay cuts and some senior and higher paid staff working without pay for up to four weeks in order to protect key US routes including the Shannon to JFK route.
Aer Lingus pilots are so committed to protecting Aer Lingus that more than 400 pilots invested in the company with an average investment of €60,000 per pilot. The general workforce are also part-owners through the Aer Lingus ESOP.
During the current crisis staff and their representatives have been yet again outstanding in their proactive approach. I have been briefed on numerous occasions by Captain Evan Cullen and his colleagues of IALPA who have provided an extremely insightful analysis of these proposals and have submitted their own plans on how savings could be made at the company.
I am also liaising with representatives of cabin crew and ground staff including Mr. Gerry McCormack and Brendan Hayes of SIPTU, Liam Berney of ICTU and Ms. Christina Carney of IMPACT trade union. The Oireachtas Transport Committee on foot of my proposals on behalf of the Labour Party has also been meeting with management and staff representatives on this issue including earlier this afternoon.
A number of weeks ago I spoke on the Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009 on bus licensing in the Dail and referred to the danger of the 'Ryanairisation or McDondonaldisation' of bus crews if deregulation and privatisation of buses follows the Ryanair aviation model and the Irish Ferries example.
It is completely unacceptable that the Ryanair and Irish Ferries model is now being applied to Aer Lingus. This is in effect a Ryanair takeover of Aer Lingus by stealth. Can the Minister explain in simple economic terms how Aer Lingus can run a transatlantic and global aviation operation on Ryanair-style, short-haul terms and conditions?
Aer Lingus workers have every right to expect a fair and reasonable salary and decent working conditions. Workers also have the right to professional representation. Will the only jobs left at Aer Lingus be minimum wage earners with very poor and transient conditions where workers will hardly be able to afford to support their families?
Cabin crew have strongly argued that if the current proposals are implemented that cabin crewing as a profession will be destroyed. At the Transport Committee earlier Ms. Christina Carney and Mr. Brendan Cunningham of IMPACT described moves to outsource critical Aer Lingus cabin crew jobs to the US. Minister we have to stop the race to the bottom in the aviation sector and it must start here with the total opposition to the outsourcing of pilot, cabin crew and ground staff at Aer Lingus.
One of the other major implications of Project Greenfield is the disastrous effect that this may have on Irish national strategic aviation connectivity. I have already mentioned that Ryanair has announced that it is cutting 17 routes from Shannon Airport from March 28th. Shannon has already lost Aer Lingus and US carrier connections to key US destinations over the last year. Any moves to transfer Aer Lingus to the Bristish aviation register will have much wider ramifications for national connectivity at Dublin and Cork and especially to the US.
Are we to become an aviation backwater with few direct connections to the major economies of North America and continental Europe, Russia etc? This will have a disastrous impact on our society and economy.
The Labour Party has long supported a strong two national airline competitive model as in the best interests of passengers. Yet what is the Minister and his colleagues actually doing to protect national connectivity? I have asked him on many occasions to develop a White Paper to examine connectivity and other critical issues including the declining volume of airline passengers and the negative impact of the €10 air travel tax.