Why TEAM sell off is wrong
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Why will the TEAM workers not make a bid for control of
their own company?
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Airports throughout the world are often symbolic of the
country or region you're visiting. Dublin airport is no
exception. The ongoing expansion and building around
Dublin Airport would show any traveller clear evidence
that some of the Tiger hype was maybe true.
As you queue for access to the Dublin road you cannot
help but notice the vastness of one of Dublin's largest
buildings - the TEAM Aer hangars. Barely 11 years old
they are a testament to the role that a dynamic public
sector company can play in the Irish economy.
TEAM's 11 years have been chequered but none of its
darker days can match the current proposal to buy
workers out of their right to a public sector job. £37
million of taxpayers' money is earmarked to pay 1,500
workers to release Aer Lingus from any contractual
obligations to provide jobs for the workers who were
transferred to TEAM when the company was originally set
up in the 1980s.
Now they stand to get an average of £18,300 each to
work for TEAM's new private sector owners, Dutch
company FLS. What is more bizarre is the £37 million
being paid to workers is more that FLS are to pay for
the company. If this is the case, why will the TEAM
workers not make a bid for control of their own
company?
The only other path they face now is privatisation and
redundancies and possibly worsening working conditions.
If there are profits to be made surely an empowered
workforce who were their own masters would be in a
position to benefit from this than selling out for a
short-term payoff. It is not only their own futures
that TEAM workers are putting up for sale this week but
also a resource that technically belongs to all the
people.
Mowlam promises ``equality of opportunity''
``The biggest overhaul of employment legislation in
nearly a decade'' was the promise made by Mo Mowlam
yesterday in response to the recent report on fair
employment by the Standing Advisory Committee on Human
Rights (SACHR). Mowlam claimed that in response to the
report Labour will implement new fair employment
legislation as part fulfillment of their election
pledge to ``promote equality of opportunity''.
Sinn Féin's national Chairperson Mitchel McLaughlin,
responding to the report, said ``Sinn Féin will study
the British Government's response very carefully.
Disappointing experience has taught us there is a
crucial difference between good intentions and
effective action to eradicate discrimination.
McLaughlin asked ``Will this British Government now set
goals and timetables for the reduction of the
Catholic-Protestant unemployment differential, which it
argued for whilst in opposition.
``There must be a co-ordinated and integrated strategy
involving legislation, social and economic
policies....Change must be sustainable. These are the
criteria by which the British Government response to
the SACHR report needs to be judged''.
15% Telecom share for workers
Telecom Eireann workers are set to take a 15% stake in
the company as negotiations with unions on the sale of
the stake reach a conclusion this week. If the deal is
agreed it will be the biggest ever sale of a state
asset to employees in Ireland.
While it would be more preferable that the company
remain in public ownership the sale of a significant
share to its workers puts them in a powerful position
to play a positive role in a company that is being
forced into the private sector.
The share sale is being organised through a two tier
process. Five percent is being given to workers in
exchange for changes in work practices. A further 9.9%
is being sold to workers for £185 million, valuing the
company at nearly £2 billion.
If it seems strange that workers are being asked to pay
for shares in a company whose wealth they help create,
consider also that they are also being asked to pay
double the price paid by KPN/Telia in 1996. They got
20% of Telecom for £183 million.
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