Swissport’s Irish staff await clarity after 53pc cut in jobs announced
IRISH workers at Swissport will not escape the impact of huge job cuts announced at the European airport handling company, it is understood.
The head of the company in Ireland has insisted that it may be able to keep Irish job losses to below the 53pc of staff expected to go in its UK operation. If replicated in Ireland this would mean more than 400 staff could ultimately face redundancy in the months to come.
The head of Swissport’s Irish operation had written to assure Irish staff that a letter from the company’s western European head which indicated immediate job losses did not immediately apply to the Irish operation.
But well-informed sources said that it was very unlikely that there would not be a big impact on the company’s Dublin, Cork and Shannon operations. A key factor in the delay in announcing Irish cuts was because the Irish Government’s Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme covers at-risk workers until the middle of August, it is understood.
In a letter to Swissport’s staff in western Europe, the chief executive of the region, Jason Holt, said that the pandemic had meant that the company’s revenue was down by more than 75pc.
“The unfortunate fact is that there simply aren’t enough aircraft flying for our business to continue running as it did before the Covid-19 outbreak and there won’t be again for some time to come. We must adapt to this new reality,” he wrote.
“Hence, we must adapt by reducing the size of Swissport’s workforce if we’re going to survive as a company. Of our circa 8,500 Swissport employees, 4,556 colleagues could be leaving us, comprising around 53pc of our workforce. We must do this to secure the lifeline of funding from lenders and investors to protect as many jobs as possible in the United Kingdom and Ireland.”