102 job losses expected for cabin crew

THERE are few hopes that Aer Lingus will renege on plans to cut 102 cabin crew jobs at Shannon in 2010 after a meeting between management, including CEO Christoph Mueller, and staff held at the Park Inn on Wednesday morning.
Niall Shanahan of the Impact Trade Union said there was disappointment among workers that the outlook was so bleak.
“They’ve said they’re going to forge ahead with 102 job losses under the so-called greenfield plan. That would leave between 20 and 25 cabin crew in Shannon and the plan for 2010 would be that they’d work on the Heathrow route. There was a lot of emotion and some people were devastated because they had hoped that something would be done to save more jobs.”
Mr Shanahan said that, as yet, there is no definite time frame for job losses at Shannon and the fact that management went to Shannon for the meeting is an indication of their seriousness.
He also said that the loss of more jobs is bad news for a region that has been “disproportionately hit” by the recession.
Mr Shanahan said that it had been suggested to Aer Lingus management that the airline could fill some of the gaps left by Ryanair’s axing of flights from Shannon but that this isn’t likely to happen in the short term.
Cabin crew worker, Tony Kinnane attended the meeting and he said that workers were quite upset.
“There were people there, some of them with 20 or 30 years service, who have found out they’ll probably be losing their jobs and this is a week before Christmas. There had been hopes that cost savings might protect some of the jobs but they were told no.”
Mayor of Clare, Tony Mulcahy was part of a delegation from the Mid-Western Regional Authority (MWRA) that also met with the Aer Lingus management team on Wednesday.
He said that continuing to work with Aer Lingus is important for Clare and the wider region.
“There is a substantial level of business in the Mid-West for Aer Lingus and we need them and want them here,” he said.
Councillor Mulcahy said that the MWRA group outlined areas where it is believed that the airline could generate new business and he said the Mid-West’s corporate sector is a significant market.
“For the business community, it is critical that they would be able to get to Dublin and Heathrow early in the morning and get back in the evening. There is a big business community here and that is a primary issue for them. We were also urging them to look at using the Customs and Border Protection facility. You can be left waiting for several hours in New York and it’d certainly be many people’s preference to pay a few euros in Shannon and cut out the waiting on the other side.”
Councillor Mulcahy said that improvements to infrastructure in the West of Ireland have made Shannon more accessible. “We have a far bigger catchment area here now. In the past, we were told that infrastructure was the problem but that has improved massively and is going to improve more in the near future.”
Councillor Mulcahy said that Mr Mueller was quite well informed on the issues facing Shannon.
Councillor Pat McMahon was also on the MWRA delegation and he also said that the improvement in infrastructure had been made clear to the Aer Lingus representatives.
“We spoke about the improvements and how things like the Gort bypass and the Limerick tunnel have still to come and they will provide a boost to Aer Lingus when they open.”