The main prospective bidder for TEAM Aer Lingus now appears unlikely to buy the company. Industry sources said yesterday that BF Goodrich, the US firm which had been expected to agree to buy TEAM, now appeared to be "out of the frame". However, Aer Lingus is hoping to have details of a prospective agreement for the sale of its aircraft maintenance subsidiary with an interested investor by Monday.
A bid by Allied Signal is now thought to be the most likely to succeed, but there is at least one other company interested in TEAM and contacts are continuing with BF Goodrich. Aer Lingus has refused to comment. Meanwhile, the unions have made clear their opposition to the sale of more than 49 per cent of TEAM, a position which could pose serious problems for any potential investor. At a meeting yesterday with Aer Lingus management the unions also said they expected employees to be given a significant shareholding in the company. The chairman of TEAM craft unions, Mr Eamon Devoy, said "the existing agreement with Aer Lingus leaves it open for the company to sell 49 per cent of TEAM, as provided for in the letters of guarantee to individual employees. We would have serious difficulties with anything that went beyond that".
The SIPTU representative, Mr Tony Walsh, went even further. "We called on Aer Lingus to live up to the agreement they freely entered into at the time TEAM was set up, which was that it would retain a 51 per cent shareholding in the company. That agreement was underwritten by the then Minister for Transport and Communications, Mr Seamus Brennan.
"We also reminded them of their commitment to enter into a shareholding agreement with employees in 1990. The only question that arises from that commitment is when, not if."
The continued uncertainty over TEAM's future is adding to the difficulties in resolving outstanding industrial relations problems. The number of issues outstanding are extremely complex. Not only is there the question of how much TEAM workers are willing to accept for a "buy-out" of their letters of guarantee ensuring them continued employment in the Aer Lingus group, but there is also the question of how they will be compensated for fringe benefits, pay disparities with other Aer Lingus employees and, most important of all, pension entitlements.
With Christmas fast approaching, and the prospect of the North Dublin by-election early next year, the timing could not be worse for a rapid resolution of these issues.