Aer Lingus has dismissed reports that a second bidder wants to buy TEAM, saying it is still in exclusive negotiations with FLS Aerospace. Meanwhile, the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, has again appealed to employees to facilitate the sale of the company as pessimism grows that they will block the deal.
Ms O'Rourke said the future for TEAM without FLS would be very bleak. "I urge them to accept this deal, because if they do so, they are voting for a good job and a good future," she said.
Aer Lingus confirmed last night that it had received a letter from GPA Expressair, a firm which is owned by former GPA executives. However, sources said it did not constitute a proposal.
An Aer Lingus spokesman said FLS had a period of exclusivity and that still applied. Nothing else would be progressed in the meantime, the spokesman said.
Weekend reports said that GPA Expressair had approached Aer Lingus and proposed a strategic alliance. Workers would be offered up to 25 per cent of the company in a stock market sale, according to reports.
Representatives of all the TEAM unions are due to meet FLS Aerospace chairman Mr Steffen Harpoth tomorrow. An agenda for the discussions will be drawn up today.
Last night, Ms O'Rourke said she welcomed the meeting and asked employees to accept the Aer Lingus offer of £54.5 million to buy out the letters of guarantee. This would clear the way for the sale of the aircraft maintenance facility to FLS.
She said Mr Harpoth, with whom she had talks in Dublin last Thursday, was a straightforward operator, "with a good tale to tell". She said if employees turned down the deal the Government could "offer them no future".
Union sources said last night that they were pessimistic about what could be achieved at Tuesday's meeting with Mr Harpoth. Among the issues which they will raise will be security of employment, assurances that there will be no enforced redundancies for those who transfer to the new company, clarification on pension rights and assurances on travel concessions.
Last week it emerged that those who wish to stay in the Aer Lingus pension fund will be facilitated. Union sources said this was very important to some employees. However, it may not be enough to swing the vote.
Some sources said last night that employees felt strongly that they had agreed to transfer to TEAM from Aer Lingus in the first place and had made all the sacrifices which been asked of them over the years, including accepting pay freezes and many changes in work practices.
"Now they feel they are being ditched by Aer Lingus, cast aside because the airline doesn't want them anymore," said one source.
The source described the current process whereby Aer Lingus has been in discussions with TEAM employees for more than six months, to buy out the letters, as "an industrial divorce, which one side wants but the other doesn't".
Aer Lingus executives are meeting TEAM employees on a group and individual basis in an effort to convince them to accept the offer. The first vote resulted in only 40 per cent of staff accepting the offer.
Sources now believe that the final tally will only be about 60 per cent in favour, with 40 per cent not accepting. This would be unlikely to persuade FLS to go through with the deal.
Aer Lingus has said it will gradually wind down TEAM if the FLS offer is not accepted and that the company is not viable on its own.
