The timetable to reach agreement on the Aer Lingus survival plan by December 7th is coming under severe pressure as management and unions seek clarifications on pay, employee share ownership and redundancy issues.
Yesterday, the board of the national airline decided to refer the Labour Relations Commission's amendments of its survival plan to the National Implementation Board (NIB) for clarification. The NIB oversees enforcement of national pay deals.
The company wants to know the status of the proposal from the LRC - which is that the unions can seek deferred pay increases under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness if Aer Lingus returns to profitability.
The total value of the deferred PPF pay increases to the company would be £40 million (€50.8 million) over the next three years. Senior company sources said yesterday that the NIB clarification was "absolutely essential" before the Aer Lingus board decides its attitude towards the overall LRC package.
In its report the LRC said it had no power to interfere with the terms of the PPF, and could only ask the unions to suspend their right to seek the pay increases. SIPTU in particular made it clear in talks with the company and the LRC that it would not give up the right to seek full implementation of the PPF at a future date. The LRC suggested a breathing space of 15 months.
The NIB is expected to meet later today, or over the weekend, to provide Aer Lingus with the necessary clarifications. Senior trade union leaders are also expected to seek clarification from the Government on whether it is prepared to increase the employee share option scheme in Aer Lingus above 14.9 per cent - in return for staff accepting new work practices, a pay freeze and 2,000 redundancies.
If SIPTU has resisted attempts by the company to avoid commitments to PPF pay increases, the other main union at Aer Lingus, IMPACT, has insisted that a larger employee share ownership plan (ESOP) is essential if employees are to accept restructuring.
Yesterday, the official position of the Department of Public Enterprise remained that 14.9 per cent of the company was the most that would be conceded.
While the union target of 30 per cent might not be realised, the general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Mr David Begg, is likely to join SIPTU and IMPACT leaders in pressing for significant movement on the ESOP issue from the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke. Mr Begg was the initial architect of ESOPs in the public sector when he negotiated the original Eircom deal.
Even if the NIB clarifications and the ESOP can be resolved satisfactorily, the question of compulsory redundancies remains.
Today is the deadline for Aer Lingus employees to accept the company's voluntary severance plan.
Although there has been a high level of interest in the package, it will only become clear after the close of business today if the company is achieving anything near its target of 2,052.
Should the gap be only a few hundred, some interim measures such as an extension of the implementation period might avoid compulsory redundancies.
But if there is a large shortfall, redundancies will become a make-or-break issue.
SIPTU regional secretary Mr Noel Dowling said yesterday that before his union balloted it would want progress on the ESOP and redundancies issues.
Any survival plan that goes to the workforce without the endorsement of the unions, or at least their benevolent neutrality, will not be voted through.
At the same time, significant slippage in the timetable to conclude the process by next Friday could be fatal to the long-term prospects of Aer Lingus.
Meanwhile, more than 200 Servisair workers attended a mass meeting at Dublin Airport yesterday and decided to hold a strike ballot. This follows a company decision to issue layoff notices to staff after they had rejected proposals for 13 redundancies. The ballot result will be known on Monday.
