The TEAM Aer Lingus unions have told their members to ignore letters being sent to them by company management outlining proposals to sell the company to FLS Aerospace. Last night, the chairman of the union group, Mr Eamon Devoy, said that Aer Lingus seemed determined to sell TEAM, but the unions would not be hurried into any decision on the future of the company.
The unions will not meet again until Monday, January 5th, when they will review the situation. After that they are expected to seek a meeting with the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, to establish her attitude towards the proposed sale.
TEAM management told the unions yesterday that FLS offered the best chance for saving jobs. It was the largest independent aircraft maintenance company in Europe.
But last night the unions expressed surprise at the decision to sell TEAM to the Danish company. They had expected a major aircraft maintenance company like BF Goodrich or GEC to be involved. At a four-hour meeting with management yesterday afternoon, the unions said that TEAM's long-term interests would be better served by remaining with Aer Lingus, than being sold to a small operator like FLS.
"The company had told us that TEAM needed to join up with a major global player, but FLS is only a little over half the size of TEAM," Mr Devoy said. "I put it to the company that they should take over FLS and they laughed."
The SIPTU representative, Mr Tony Walsh, said that FLS appeared to be losing money, while TEAM had a healthy order book and was ahead of budget in 90 per cent of targeted areas. "Given the positive performance of the company and its healthy order book, today's announcement has led to anger and increased frustration among the workforce, who feel the only agenda management is seriously pursuing is disposal of the operation without real concern for their futures."
He said that when the unions meet Ms O'Rourke, they would be seeking support for a realistic appraisal of TEAM's options.
The unions are also angry that the company decided to send out circulars to employees explaining the merits of the FLS takeover of TEAM before consulting the unions. Last night, the unions prepared their own circular for distribution to the 1,550 staff. In the circular, the unions have told members that FLS is a significantly smaller operation than TEAM, with only 1,100 employees and is currently trading at a loss. This was "a far cry" from the "blue chip company" proposed by Gary McGann (the Aer Lingus chief executive) some weeks ago.
"There were no negotiations in this regard," the circular says. The company had written to each employee outlining its proposals. "These letters should be ignored pending general meetings of all staff, which will be held during week commencing January 5th, 1998."
The company rejects the claim that FLS is not a "blue-chip" company and points out that its customers include airlines like KLM, British Airways and Continental.
