A UNION REPRESENTATIVE for Aer Lingus workers said that neither the union nor many staff members knew in advance that the airline could be cutting up to 500 jobs.

Aer Lingus confirmed in a statement Thursday that plans to reduce its flight capacity by 6% could result in job cuts. The airline said it has reduced senior management roles by around 25% and proposes to reduce wider employee costs in Head Office by around 25%.

Terry Gill, industrial organiser for the aviation sector of trade union Siptu, said the job cuts announcement came as a “huge surprise” when the union and its members first heard of it Thursday.

Speaking to The Journal, he said: “We hadn’t been informed, we hadn’t been advised, and it wasn’t anticipated. So this will be the first [workers] heard. You can imagine the impact that will have on them and their families.”

Gill said the airline has not yet confirmed who will lose jobs, leaving workers “worried and concerned” with uncertainty hanging over them for the weekend.

“It’s very unclear where or how these cuts are going to be made,” he said, adding: “At the moment nobody knows who, where, or why.”

Fórsa, the union which represents many workers in aviation, also told The Journal that individual workers “have not yet been informed”, as the process of engagement has not yet taken place.

In a statement, the union said the proposed job losses will come as a “profound shock to workers across the airline”, including pilots, cabin crew and staff in head office functions. 

‘Knock after knock’

An Aer Lingus head office employee who wants to remain anonymous told The Journal that they first heard of the proposed jobs cuts from a WhatsApp group chat with friends who had seen the announcement on the news.

“It’s like, holy shit! We didn’t know the extent. Nobody was told. You’re kind of kept in the dark,” the worker said. 

“It’s very frantic. People don’t know, and when you don’t know, you always think the worst. It wasn’t communicated to people at all.”

The staff member said an official announcement was made in an employee Townhall around lunchtime Thursday, several hours after reports of the cuts were first reported by the media.

They said a notice was put on the company’s internal website early that morning, but not sent directly to staff, so many had not seen it.

“The atmosphere is not great at the moment,” they said, adding that company morale has been “going downhill” for the past year. 

“It’s just been knock after knock,” they added, highlighting the airline’s recent decision to order around 300 staff who had been availing of hybrid working arrangements to return to the office four days a week.

They said there is a belief among staff that the company is trying to “push people out”. They said around 10% of their department have already left their jobs due to changes around remote working.

“It was a lovely place to work. You had people there years, and there was a lovely atmosphere. You loved going into it, but it’s really nosedived in the last year,” they added.

Job losses

Siptu is seeking a meeting with senior management at Aer Lingus to find out more details about the cuts. 

“We’re hoping to meet them early next week, hopefully, and to discuss how they’re going to proceed with this and what’s the criteria and where they plan to make these cuts,” Terry Gill said.

“Our job is to try and get some clarity to inform our members, keep them informed, and try and address their concerns. Our focus is to save as many jobs as possible,” Gill said.

The proposed cuts come after the airline suffered losses of €103 million in Q1 of this year.

Gill said the conflict in the Middle East “changed everything” for the airline due to the spike in fuel costs.

“Back in January Aer Lingus were talking about expanding their operation and recruiting for the ground, and then when the Gulf crisis kicked in March, that changed everything,” he said.

Despite losses, Aer Lingus are still making a profit, but profits are not meeting the targets set by parent company IAG.

Aer Lingus said in its statement Thursday that it aims to achieve and sustain a 12% – 15% operating margin to attract investment over the medium term, which is the target set by IAG.

The company did not meet this target last year, having made operating margins of 11.1%.

Other brands owned by IAG, such as British Airways and Iberia, made operating margins of over 15% last year, according to Reuters.

Aer Lingus and IAG have been contacted for comment.