Aer Lingus confirms 500 jobs to be lost

Aer Lingus confirmed on Friday that it will shed up to 500 jobs from its 4,500-strong workforce. The move comes days after the airline said it would press ahead with plans to cut pay by 70% until August following the collapse of a possible deal with unions including Fórsa and Siptu. The company informed the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Regina Doherty, that it expects to seek up to 500 redundancies, the first formal step that a company must take when it seeks to cut jobs. “Aer Lingus is now commencing the required consultation process with employee representative organisations,” the carrier said. Siptu divisional organiser Karan O’Loughlin accused Aer Lingus of “pouring petrol on the fire of an already difficult industrial relations environment”. She warned that productive talks would be impossible while 200 of the union’s members were on temporary lay off and 1,000 had their pay cut by 70%.<br/>