It might be a bit early to be making decisions about the Aer Lingus flotation, but Current Account can't help feeling at this stage that he wouldn't touch the shares with a barge pole.
How can anybody think of investing in a company where a key bunch of employees have threatened to take industrial action at Christmas-time - just as it is announced that the company is being offered to investors. What a signal to send to potential investors?
Airline pilots are probably the most cosseted bunch of workers around, and for IALPA to have the gall to demand pay parity with the likes of British Airways or American Airlines (umpteen times Aer Lingus's size) is beyond belief. For IALPA to even suggest that Aer Lingus staff should own 20 per cent of the company is equally galling.
It's bad enough that Aer Lingus staff will end up owning almost 15 per cent of the company, but for union bosses to push for an even bigger stake is pure lunacy.
Aer Lingus needs money for aircraft, but few institutional investors will be happy to put money into an airline where staff have such a large shareholding and can effectively block crucial decisions. Private investors should exercise the same caution.
