Union representatives at Aer Lingus have said a deal with staff on the proposed sale of the airline is far from complete.
SIPTU officials have said the current offer fails to meet requirements for job security and pensions. Christy McQuillan of SIPTU said that to give the impression that the current offer was a done deal was a misrepresentation.
Meanwhile IMPACT said progress had been made, but there were still outstanding issues around employment standards and pensions to be agreed.
The unions were reacting to an offer from Aer Lingus management. This includes a 3% pay increase over and above the national wage agreement, a once-off payment of up to a maximum of €4,000 depending on the number of years service and up to 7.5% of future profits to invest in shares.
Winning the staff over to the idea of taking part of the airline private in the autumn has been one of the biggest challenges for management at Aer Lingus. SIPTU, the largest union at Aer Lingus, is opposed to any sell-off.
In addition to the pay increase, lump sum and future profit share, Aer Lingus is also offering a €104m payment into the staff pension scheme.
It has been suggested that the total value of the deal for staff works around at around €250m. A flotation of part of the company would raise between €800m and €1.1 billion. In addition, a four-page document circulated to the unions in recent days guarantees no outsourcing of jobs or departments until at least 2010. It also says there will be no erosion of pay, benefits and conditions for existing staff after flotation.
