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AER LINGUS HAS threatened SIPTU with legal action if it proceeds with a ballot on industrial action in a dispute over a pension scheme.
The union announced last week that it would begin to ballot staff at the airline and at the DAA, as a long-running dispute continues over a €780 million hole in the ‘Irish Aviation Superannuation Scheme’.
SIPTU official Dermot O’Loughlin confirmed to TheJournal.ie this evening that he had received a letter from Aer Lingus management saying that any balloting of staff would be premature and in breach of existing agreements.
The letter calls on the union to halt the vote, and says the airline will take any necessary steps, up to and including legal action, to prevent the ballot from going ahead in any way that would cause “significant commercial damage” to the company.
O’Loughlin said that the union would still be going ahead with the ballot “as per the mandate from our pensions committees”.
The union has already stated that no industrial action will take place over the Christmas period.
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It’s gotta be said, SIPTU is great at punishing the general public for squabbles they have zero business with.
How many trade unionist cronies did Bertie put on the Aer Lingus board?
Unions seem to be running the Country lately!
Shit stirring unions, it’s easy for them to say put your head above the parapet and be counted but at the end of the day it’s not their jobs been put in jeopardy.
i thought the geniuses in charge of the aer lingus pension scheme decided to overinvest in their own bathwater a few years ago to fend off the commercial acumen of Michael O’Leary trying to turn them into a sustainable airline.
Johngahan
If you’re going to make derogatory comments please make sure you have your facts correctly lined up beforehand . It was the airline pilots pension trust that bought Aer Lingus shares to stave off a Ryanair challenge ! This was a foolish and shortsighted misuse of pension funds that ultimately achieved only negative outcomes. Pension Law should prohibit such stupidity.
I would not call a profitable airline “unsustainable” in fairness. Funny enough, by coincidence, it is also known for its better services than the one run by O’Leary. One thinks it is a bit questionable who must learn from who here. It is a matter of quality vs. quantity.
Bums on seats ! ! ?
Marie
Please compare the number of passengers traveling with Ryanair every year versus the handful that board Aer Lingus planes and you will see how foolish any comparison between the two might be.
Unions now trying to fight over pensions might just push the rest of this unsustainable airline over the edge. The Company and the Pension Fund would then be victims of Union stupidity and greed.
I do not have to compare any numbers to say that a company that makes a stable profit cannot be called unsustainable. A bus can take tens of people whereas a car can have a handful of passengers. With your logic, this means buses are somehow more sustainable than cars? Sustainability is about a company’s ability to be successful in the long term. Although, I appreciated your go at unions. As ever, the chance was not missed even without understanding what you are talking about. Now, you can be the first one to dislike this post but it sounds really stupid when people talk about things they do not understand and then try to call someone else stupid.
Joining and contributing to the pension scheme in Aer Lingus was compulsory and a condition of employment as a result a lot of workers have had massive sums deducted from their pay over perhaps thirty maybe forty years with no choice in the matter don’t blame trade unions on this it is the rage of the workforce over this scandal that may lead to industrial action.
I’m afraid to book a flight on Aer Lingus from JFK. There is always a threat of a strike. Tried to be loyal to the national airline but time off is short and should be full of anticipation of the good times, not wondering if I will make it home and back. Time to book outside of the box.
Sure you wouldn’t want your Christmas shopping trip jeopardised over something as trivial as other peoples’ pensions
I wonder how Aer Lingus’ sister airline Cunna Lingus is going?
Barry the airline is in business approx seventy five years some wit first told that idiotic joke about one week later.
have your say