Sinn Féin TD for Clare, Violet-Anne Wynne, has expressed concern following news that staff at Shannon Airport have been given an ultimatum to sign on the dotted line by Friday.
Teachta Wynne said:
“I have just learned that staff at the airport have received their (voluntary) redundancy offers as recently as Friday last (21st) and are expected to agree and sign these offers by this coming Friday (28th) without any meaningful engagement between Shannon Management and their unions.
“It appears that the Shannon Group Management are blaming the unions for the lack of engagement however, the unions have made it quite clear that if there would be any severance package offered it would have to be in line with the Semi-State Aviation package available in DAA. They also made it clear that they would also not accept the 20% pay-cut due to start next Monday.
“The severance package on offer within the SAA is nowhere near as generous as the one currently on offer in the DAA with the staff in Shannon feeling left behind in comparison to package being offered to former colleagues in both the DAA and also of their colleagues who were offered a better just last year by the SAA.
“All this is happening at the same time that Minister Eamon Ryan and his officials are carrying out an internal review of the Management/operational structures of the Shannon Group.
“I really feel this is not fair on the staff at the airport. The time constraint alone does not allow the staff to fully weigh up all their options on what will be a life-changing decision.
“I am calling on Minister Ryan to instruct the SAA to extend the deadline beyond Friday to allow for meaningful engagement between his Department, the Unions and the Staff at the Airport.”
