Staff at the aviation ground-handling company Aviance have voted to accept a survival package involving significant reductions in pay in a move aimed at saving around 150 jobs at the company.
The deal will involve pay cuts of 15 per cent for the workers concerned who are based at Dublin Airport.
However under the survival plan existing working hours, sick pay, holiday pay and pension arrangements will remain in place for staff.
The trade union Siptu, which was involved in negotiating the rescue plan with management, said tonight that 67 per cent of workers voted to accept the survival package in a ballot. On Tuesday Aviance said that it was ceasing operations from March with the loss of 150 jobs.
It said that a recent review of its operations revealed that its current cost base could not be sustained under the Dublin business model. The company said that the closure was due, in part, to the economic climate, which has had a global impact on the aviation industry.
However Siptu maintained that “low pay competitors” at Dublin Airport had pushed the company into a position where it was not competitive.
It said that Aviance was competing with “anti-union operators who constantly seek to drive down wages and employment standards”.
Siptu entered into talks with the company on a possible survival plan as an alternative to closure of the operation. Siptu civil aviation sector organiser Dermot O’ Loughlin said he was delighted that the survival package had been accepted by staff.
However, he paid tribute to the workers at the company who, he said, had made a very difficult and brave decision.
Mr O’Loughlin said that rather than unions chasing expanded exit packages for staff in companies facing difficulties that in future they might look at modest survival plans as an alternative to redundancies.
Staff at Aviance carry out functions such as check-in of passengers, boarding and baggage handling.