Clare’s Sinn Féin TD has criticised Shannon Airport management for the manner of their offer of voluntary redundancy to their staff.
Deputy Violet Anne Wynne claims that while workers received offers last Friday, they’ve only been given until this Friday to accept it, and that workers are annoyed that the terms offered aren’t as generous as those on offer to workers in the DAA.
In a statement, Shannon Group says a range of available options were presented to staff in July, including career breaks, temporary pay cuts and a voluntary severance scheme, with the terms clearly communicated at that time.
It also says there has been ongoing engagement with staff over the past seven weeks, and says offers to meet with trade unions last week were declined.
Deputy Wynne is calling on the Transport Minister to instruct Shannon Group to offer more breathing space to staff who she says have been put in an impossible position.
Shannon Group Statement
Mary Considine, CEO, Shannon Group said: “We acknowledge the very difficult situation that our staff face arising from the collapse in traffic at Shannon Airport due to COVID-19.
With 2020 set to account for the biggest losses in the history of aviation globally and predictions that the sector will not recover for up to four years, we were left with no option but to put what are difficult solutions on the table for staff to sustain the airport through this unprecedented period and prime it for recovery in the years ahead.
“In early July we presented a range of available options to staff, among these career breaks, reduced working hours, short time working, temporary pay cuts and a voluntary severance scheme (VSS). The terms of the VSS were clearly communicated at that time.
We communicated these measures to unions and since then have put an extensive programme in place to ensure that staff were fully briefed regarding the necessity for this intervention.
“This ongoing engagement across the last seven weeks included written communications with staff and unions, full briefing of staff across two separate days in socially distanced town-hall meetings at the airport, telephone conversations and board meetings and calls.
Our HR team has also worked exhaustively with the very large number of staff that expressed interest in the scheme to set out the specific individual outcomes for them. During that period, we sought to meet with trade unions on the VSS, but the offers were declined, the latest of these was last week.
“The measures we have had to put in place are certainly not what we envisaged as we set out on what would otherwise have been a year of growth at Shannon.”
