From the Sunday Independent.
Sunday December 06 2009
BOLSHIE trade unions who obstinately refuse to accept economic reality, an organisation that is rapidly going broke, a business model that has been rendered totally obsolete by aggressive competitors. The longer the Aer Lingus saga drags on the more it seems like a microcosm for Ireland as a whole.
After eight weeks of shadow-boxing, the Aer Lingus endgame is rapidly approaching. This week the company's board decided to establish a taskforce to implement compulsory redundancies and reductions in the airline's fleet. The move, which looks like triggering a strike at Aer Lingus, comes after the trade unions refused to sign up for the €97m cost-cutting package unveiled by chief executive Christoph Mueller on October 7.
While some of the 4,000-strong Aer Lingus workforce have indicated a willingness to accept the Mueller plan, which includes 676 layoffs and 10 per cent pay cuts for all staff earning over €35,000 a year, two groups -- cabin staff and pilots -- have refused to agree.
The strongest opposition of all seems to be coming from the pilots.
Apparently these horny-handed sons of the soil, who are legally restricted to working a maximum of 900 hours annually and earn up to €300,000, are demanding a 4 per cent stake in the airline, among other things, before signing on the dotted line.
Get real. Aer Lingus is rapidly bleeding to death with its cash balances plunging from €654m at the middle of last year to just €440m by mid-2009.
Analysts reckon that the company's cash balances will have shrivelled to less than €300m by the end of this year. At this rate of cash burn Aer Lingus will be out of business by the end of 2010.
With Ryanair eating Aer Lingus alive on short-haul and competition from US airlines having turned the transatlantic market into a bloodbath the status quo is not an option. If the Aer Lingus trade unions make good on their strike threats will the airline's workers have jobs to go back to?