Kitt brands Aer Lingus 'despicable' in wake of leak
The fallout from a “sinister” Aer Lingus staff memo continued tonight after after a Government Chief Whip described the national airline’s tactics as “despicable and cruel“.
In an attempt to secure redundancies in 2004, company bosses discussed several measures like making shifts awkward for workers with families and forcing senior hostesses to wear “tacky” jump-suits and t-shirts.
Chief Whip Tom Kitt said tonight that he was shocked to hear of the airline’s strategy which should have no place in modern industrial relations practices.
The former Labour minister added: “The fact that somebody even crafted this language into a document is a very bad reflection on Aer Lingus. This kind of language is despicable and disgraceful.”
“Aer Lingus is doing a terrible disservice to the economy in this matter.”
Employment Minister Micheal Martin said earlier: “We are not impressed by this document.”
The document, which came from a provisional business strategy prepared, was leaked to a national newspaper today.
The leaked 12-point document proposed that 200 supervisors could be told they had no future at the company and surplus pilots would be forced to take tedious training modules.
It was immediately dismissed by management as a discussion paper which was never implemented and Aer Lingus chairman John Sharman wrote to his 2,900 staff today to explain.
Unions described the memo as “sinister” and were due to have “direct engagement” with Mr Sharman tonight as the Oireachtas Transport Committee announced it will hold hold an emergency session on the issue on Tuesday.
Committee chairman John Ellis said: “For a semi-state body of the scale of our national carrier to have compiled such a document is a shocking indictment of management practice.”
Mr Kitt also confirmed that Transport Department officials were in contact with Aer Lingus management on the matter today.
Mr Sharman insisted earlier: “At no stage would these tactics have been authorised by me. It did not constitute a plan to get rid of people.
Siptu national industrial secretary Michael Halpenny said: “We had warned our members that Aer Lingus would put all sorts of psychological tactics to put pressure on them to take redundancies.”
