GERARD REYNOLDS,
Sir, - In my letter of January 17th I asked if Aer Lingus pilots were more entitled to earn a living than people in the IT sector. It seems, judging by Jill MacDonald's response (January 22nd), that the answer is yes!
In response to her questions: I don't know how many weeks of leave my friends in the IT sector had accrued (and chosen not to take).
I don't know if they were the lowest paid in their industry (though I suspect that if they had been, they might have sought an alternative employer long before now).
I don't know what conditions they had laid down for their employers, if any, or what last-ditch negotiations went on in the background, but I do know that downing tools and marching up and down the street waving placards was not an option for their colleagues.
Their redundancies were accepted as an unfortunate result of turbulent times - and they occurred with the minimum of disruption, dramatics and newsprint.
The protective mantle of semi-State employment is far removed from the reality that most Irish working people experience. Private employees are heavily protected by strict employment law, but are answerable to their employers on a day-to-day basis. And they are certainly not in a position to make unrealistic and unsustainable demands on resources and then stamp the foot if they are not delivered.
While I am sympathetic to the individuals involved in Aer Lingus, it is time that semi-State employees and their unions realise that they are entitled to the same rights as any other workers. - Yours, etc.,
GERARD REYNOLDS, Woodstown Village, Knocklyon, Dublin 16.