Niyamath Parveez

Malta is an extremely popular holiday destination with an illustrious history behind it which encourages many people to come and visit the nation. In addition to this, there are a multitude of holiday maker attractions with fantastic beaches and glorious sunshine giving further reasons to bring people to the country. In addition to this, public awareness of the country has risen dramatically in the United Kingdom due to the fact that Air Malta Sponsor Sheffield united, a soccer club widely known throughout the land. The advertising benefits of sponsoring this club have caused many more people to think of Malta as a possible destination and to fly Air Malta in getting there.

However, not everything is rosy for the company, even with this wide exposure, as the current economic downfall has affected them much like it has affected so many other companies around the world. The recession in the past few years has been extremely damaging, causing many firms to go bust and leaving even more changing their policies and attitudes to work in order to save money and prolong the business. One way for firms to reduce their labor costs but still maintain a quality of service is through outsourcing their work to a provider that is able to work for a lower fee.

However, Air Malta are looking into outsourcing for another major reason and one that can be currently overlooked when it comes to outsourcing. An airline company needs to have staffs that are capable of working all around the clock, which can put a great strain on resources. It can be difficult to find staffs that are willing to work all of these hours or on a specific route without paying additional money to the staff for doing so. This can raise the cost of labor for the company which is obviously something that they are trying to avoid. Therefore, using an outsourcing supplier to provide the staff who will work any hour of the day ensures that the costs are lower and deadlines and targets can be met.

Air Malta are not the first company to face these problems, nor will they be the last and the inevitable solution that companies tend to turn towards revolves around redundancies for their current staff. Although this may lead to a bad public relations issue for the company involved, the cost saving is likely to be of enough benefit for them to continue their plans to push through the redundancies.

As always, news of a potential round of redundancies has been met with criticism and unpleasantness from the trade unions involved, which should come as no surprise. Trade unions exist to work for their member’s rights and behalf, so there is likely to be a disagreement between all parties. A trade union is unlikely to see the fact that a reduced labor cost through outsourcing work is what the firm is really after and that the number of people being made redundant is unfortunate. As discussions continue with regards Air Malta, expect to see both parties fighting harder for their rights.

It is very common for trade unions to get involved when a company or organization tries to introduce a number of outsourcing measures to reduce the number of employees at a firm. Reducing employee numbers is an excellent way to lower the labor costs, one of the highest factors for a firm to consider. Being able to remove this cost from the running of a business brings a great deal of benefits to the company that manages to do so but the down side is fairly evident for the staff employed. Given the current economic downturn, losing a job can be extremely harsh and staff members and trade unions are keen to fight against this happening.

The sad thing, it is quite common for the trade union to have very little impact or influence on these decisions and it almost seems like it is pointless for these bodies to exist in the modern era. However, every so often, a positive result is obtained which gives everyone hope that the day of the trade union still has some life left in it. America may not be the best place to look for to see a sign of life when it comes to trade unions defeating outsourcing measures but this is exactly what has happened.

The word of a Government watchdog is always very important and they have made the recommendation to the Defense Department that their recent decision to outsource is perhaps not entirely lawful. The plan was to ship 400 jobs to an outsource supplier but it was found there was a serious flaw in the judging criteria used in the vetting and tendering process. Any complaint of this matter is quite serious and obviously there was a lot of time spent on viewing the overall process.

The American Federation of Government employees made the complaint which has been upheld but some people believe that the complaint was made by a body that was too close to the decision. The American Federation of Government is the trade union group that represents the employees who would lose their job if the decision was verified. That may seem as though they have a vested interest but a trade union has a duty to work for their members and the level of fight on show will no doubt give hope to everyone that these bodies still have teeth.

The key reason for the dubiety and doubt in the tender of the original winning party came about because of the extremely low level of retirement benefit that was factored in the total cost. There were also doubts about the supply costs factored in and similar questions over the efficiency assumption levels. If other tenders made the same mistakes or errors in their bids, it may have allowed their bids to have appeared more attractive so the fact that the American Federation of Government employees felt it was necessary to make this complaint is not as unfair as even the most ardent critic of trade unions may have previously thought.

When people think of an Irish based plane company, it is probably inevitable that they will turn to Ryanair, the low budget airline from Ireland. Ryanair have captured traveler’s imagination due to low pricing and many quirky deals and advertising campaign. The boss of Ryanair is not well liked but he has made a lot of money for his company and no doubt will continue to feed the publicity machine that keeps his company in the papers. However, before Ryanair, there were a number of options open to travelers looking to travel to and from Ireland, with Aer Lingus being one the most popular.

All of the existing firms have struggled with the economic slowdown and the way that companies like Ryanair and Easyjet have came to the fore but Aer Lingus are starting to make moves to move back into contention amongst the top earners in a high flying industry. Like most firms, Aer Lingus realise that reducing their labor costs is just one of the ways that they need to improve their infrastructure and this is forming a large part of their new structure set-up. Inevitably, anything which involves restructuring and people potentially losing their jobs is going to upset people and cause trouble and you can guarantee that the trade unions are looking at what Aer Lingus does next with great interest. There are currently just under 4,000 people employed by Aer Lingus and to become far more efficient and effective, the company is looking to trim around 700 of these jobs. That’s quite a large number for a moderately sized firm and depending on where these jobs are lost from, the impact on local communities could be quite large.

Given the importance of the company in Ireland, a lot of job losses could be extremely harsh on a population that is already struggling with the demise of the Celtic tiger. In order to maintain its effectiveness whilst cutting back on its number of employees, Aer Lingus is the latest firm to go down the route of outsourcing with regards to diversifying their workforce. One great way for an airline carrier to bring outsourcing into their company is through the catering department. Companies like Ryanair and Easyjet no longer offer free meals for their customers but many other firms do and even those who don’t provide free meals will provide some element of food to the travelling public.

Choosing this option should give Aer Lingus a lot of opportunity to improve their economic outlook but this cannot be the only option pursued by the firm. Other options include reducing the pay packets of all their workers or looking to greatly reduce the pension and benefits on offer to their staff. The benefits felt by airline and terminal staffs have been highly attractive for staff but this is no longer likely to be the case as firms have to battle against tough economic times.

These moves may not be the best for current employers but these moves are likely to ensure that Aer Lingus has a future for many years to come.

One of the major problems when trying to implement an outsourcing activity is dealing with the complaints of the existing staff who may find their job altered or indeed made redundant. One of the problems for many firms is that they are being held back by the notion of what jobs were and being unable to move with the times. This is exactly the case with the Fairpoint Communications workers whose main gripe about the outsourcing work being the fact that they believed they had jobs for life.

The number of job losses isn’t really relevant because it should be viewed as the total impact within the community but 40 job losses, which is the proposed number of outsourcing jobs being taken from Fairpoint Communications employees in Maine, can be enough to make people stand up for themselves. Which is fact that is known by trade union people and there seems to be a move by the trade union to make these potential job losses known, although the firm are at pains to stress that no plans for this have even been submitted yet.

This suggests that trade union workers are more than happy to peddle the myths and fears of outsourcing in order to swell their own numbers and popularity, making outsourcing an unwitting partner in the propaganda for trade unions. There is no doubt that trade unions do a lot of great work for many people and an employee should give the matter serious consideration as to whether they would benefit from joining one but there is a great need to uncover the truth behind the rumours and stories and to determine what is really driving their actions.

When trade union officials make remarks about the jobs should not be outsourced because they have been around for decades and decades and the jobs have been cradle to the grave jobs, it is obvious that there is some seriously outdated opinions in the current workforce. Admittedly, this is the sort of thinking and opinion that will keep trade unionists in power so it is not as if this approach or attitude is a surprise but considering the current economic climate, a firm would be mad to not consider doing everything they can to ensure that their business is running as smoothly and efficiently as possible. The loss of jobs is highly regrettable and there should always be other steps taken to preserve work but if that cannot be arranged, it may be the case that outsourcing is required to preserve the future of the entire firm. With this in mind, it is apparent to see why outsourcing can be of great benefit to the organization as a whole and could provide a longer term benefit to the local economy. With every business decision, there will be positive and negative aspects involved and striking the right balance is a difficult task for all concerned. There is every justification for people to be annoyed with outsourcing if it actually does cost them their jobs but there also needs to be an acceptance that certain people will benefit by making outsourcing out to be a big, bad monster that wrecks communities.

One of the key factors in using an outsourcing firm is the fact that as well as the employees, they can bring a great number of services, products and infrastructure benefits to the agreement as well. In cash strapped times, this ability is something that greatly appeals to the firm looking to outsource. This can be seen in a recent example in Chandigarh where the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) look set to outsource their labor requirements.

As well as the staffing issues that come with it, part of the tendering list has raised the issue of the outsourcing firm replacing the buses that are currently being used. A new fleet of vehicles will greatly improve the service offered by the CTU and should be of benefit to the commuters and passengers who use the service on a regular basis. It is quite probably that the current regime would not have the money to fully restock their bus fleet but by making it part of the outsourcing arrangement, it is a service that can be rolled out sooner than you would expect.

Whilst this news is expected to be welcomed by the public of the local region, the trade union group for the CTU is up in arms and has voiced their displeasure about this outsourcing move. It is very clear to see why trade unions are opposed to outsourcing as it means a loss of jobs for their members but more importantly for the people who run it, a loss of power for themselves. In many countries where trade unions still have a lot of power and are capable of causing great difficulties for a firm, there has been an acceptance that utilizing outsourcing can provide great assistance in diluting the power of trade unions. Trade union members are clearly opposed to any such action but with the current financial crisis facing the world, firms are looking to cut back on all costs and using outsourcing can help them on many levels.

With bus driver and conductors roles being placed under the spotlight by this decision to outsource the staffing of the CTU, there is no doubt that there is a lot of jobs at stake. With 100 new buses looking to be introduced in the near future, this accounts up to 200 new staff members but with part-time, shift work and contractual obligations, it is likely that a total of 250 people will be hired by the firm who wins the outsourcing contract.

Although many of the current workers will likely find employment with the new outsourcing firm, who will be keen to use their experience and skills to maintain a good standard of work, it is likely that the contract hours and overall terms of pay will be lower than what they were previously on. However, with the choice of reduced pay or no job at all, it is likely that most staff members will sign up for the outsourcing firm, which is an issue that causes discomfort and displeasure to the trade unions and general public.