SIPTU members in Aer Lingus have voted by a margin of over 80% to take industrial action up to and including strike action if management proceeds with making over 1,300 of their members redundant without agreement.
Aer Lingus wants to implement a €74 million cost-cutting package which would include outsourcing ground operations, shutting cabin crew bases in Shannon and Heathrow, and using American crews on some transatlantic routes.
If fully implemented, the measures would shave €50 million from its staff costs.
Last night, Chief Executive Dermot Mannion told staff the cost cutting package was 'unstoppable and irreversible'.
He has given staff until December 15 to apply for a voluntary severance and early retirement package - but SIPTU has urged staff not to respond to pressure to leave their jobs.
In a separate ballot, 97% of SIPTU members affected by the redundancy plans voted to invoke collective redundancy legislation enacted after the Irish Ferries controversy if management proceeds with its plans to replace them with outsourced labour.
Passenger numbers up by 3.8%
Meanwhile, Aer Lingus said its passenger numbers grew by 3.8% to a total of 904,000 in October 2008 compared to the same time last year.
The airline reported a 6.3% increase in passenger numbers on short haul and an 11.4% decrease in passengers on long haul. Short haul passenger numbers rose to 795,000 from 748,000, but long haul numbers slipped to 109 000 from 123,000.
Aer Lingus said its short haul load factor in October stood at 79.4%, down 2.4% from the same time last year in the context of a capacity increase of 15.1% year on year.
Its long haul load factor was 68.8%, down from 76.5% in 2007, with capacity increasing by 1.3%.
