The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has said that it was a matter of "very serious concern" that the government had failed to achieve any guarantees on possible job losses and outsourcing in Aer Lingus, despite some progress on issues such as connectivity and slot retention.
Responding to news that the Cabinet had approved the sale of the government's 25% stake in Aer Lingus to IAG, Congress General Secretary Patricia King said: "While there has been some obvious progress, there was also a very clear failure to achieve guarantees that there would be no compulsory redundancies or outsourcing, following any IAG takeover.
'that is a matter of very serious concern to Congress and to the unions with members in Aer Lingus. Senior management at the airline will benefit hugely from any sale and that contrasts quite sharply with the failure to provide the rest of the staff with certainty, in relation to compulsory redundancies and outsourcing of existing functions," Ms King said.
"Our fears about the loss of existing jobs in the event of an IAG takeover have not been assuaged. Staff at Aer Lingus have been instrumental in turning the airline around in recent years and deserve far more certainty than this.
"We are calling on both IAG and the government to address these very real concerns."
