Sack the bastards; Michael O Leary

Tora Bora

Cut 10 billion a year for three years, and a bit of choice language thrown in for good measure.

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/ryanair-boss-says-radical-action-needed-for-recovery-2386809.html
Ryanair boss says radical action needed for recovery


Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary said the Government should take tougher action to plug the massive "€20bn" budget deficit and "sack the bastards" in the civil service whose positions were now surplus to requirements.
Speaking to the Irish Independent from Oslo yesterday, Mr O'Leary said everyone, including the rich and the poor, should be paying more tax and the unemployed should only get the dole for six months before being told to go and get a job.
Mr O'Leary said the Government was "not dealing with the problem" of the deficit and that it should be aiming to take out €9bn to €10bn in costs every year for the next two to three years.
Asked what his advice would be to the Government in relation to cuts, Mr O'Leary said: "Aim for more than you need, because then you just might get there."
He claimed that government economic forecasts were based on "hopeless" figures and that in order to cut the deficit, two-thirds of the savings would have to be generated from cuts and the remainder from higher personal taxes.
"People are ready for the cuts, so just do it. Income tax should go up, but the corporate tax rate shouldn't be touched," he said.
Mr O'Leary added that the dole should be reduced and should only be paid for the first six months of unemployment, after which recipients should be told to "go and get a job".
"There's a €20bn gap and it needs a broad-brush approach. It can't be targeted at one just one sector or the other."
The Government wants to try and reduce the country's budget deficit to 3pc of gross domestic product by 2014 from the expected 32pc level it will be by the end of this year.
Mr O'Leary added that unless tough action was taken rapidly, Ireland's financial destiny would be out of the country's hands.
"We will get the IMF and we will deserve it," he said. "Even the bond markets don't believe the Government any more."
He suggested that the Government needed to start selling "non-core" state-owned assets .
"Do you want to cut children's allowance or sell non-core state assets?" Mr O'Leary asked.
He maintained that children's allowance, alongside the dole, had to be re-examined to ensure that those who don't need it don't get it.
Meanwhile, Labour described the statement that the State is to seek a buyer for its 25pc share in Aer Lingus because it is broke as "alarming" and claimed any such move would be a disaster for consumers.
Labour transport spokesman Joe Costello urged Transport Minister Noel Dempsey to publicly state that the Government had no intention of selling its share to Ryanair.
- John Mulligan
Irish Independent

ei.sdraob

I think we need to incite a war between the lower paid and higher paid public servants

divide and conquer FF style

the union-ist's (of the 6 figure salary kind) keep on going on about taxing the rich how about they turn their attention to the servants earning same or larger salaries as themselves :P

ooh where is that popcorn making machine

20Cent

Maybe the Tax payer should stop subsidising Ryanair.
See how he gets on "in the real world" then.

bryaner

Just copy and paste one of the numerous public sector v private sector threads
here it it should save your fingers typing the same trash over again. :rolleyes:

wylo

Tora Bora wrote: »

"People are ready for the cuts, so just do it. Income tax should go up, but the corporate tax rate shouldn't be touched," he said.
Mr O'Leary added that the dole should be reduced and should only be paid for the first six months of unemployment, after which recipients should be told to "go and get a job".

lol, this is why he'll never be a politician, not that he wants to be.

Tbh I lost alot of respect for him after the Lisbon debate, even though I was on the yes side, he was completely useless and proved he didnt have a clue what he was talking about , especially during the debates.

Count Dooku

Tora Bora wrote: »

"People are ready for the cuts, so just do it. Income tax should go up, but the corporate tax rate shouldn't be touched," he said.

BTW, tax take from CT increased by 12%(235 millions)
http://www.finance.gov.ie/documents/exchequerstatements/2010/endsepttaxreceipts.pdf

Dirk Gently

MoL in free publicity shocker.

Dirk Gently

wylo wrote: »

lol, this is why he'll never be a politician, not that he wants to be.

Tbh I lost alot of respect for him after the Lisbon debate, even though I was on the yes side, he was completely useless and proved he didnt have a clue what he was talking about , especially during the debates.

When someone like Declan Ganley can walk rings around him in a debate that should have sent alarm bells to his fan club who "want O Leary to run the country". He's a one trick pony who loves free advertising. His agenda is his own profits which is fine, but he should keep out of political debate and shouldn't be given publicity beyond ryan air press releases.

unit 1

Methinks MOL is a few seats short of a full planeload.:D

The_Thing

The title of this thread should have been "Sack the bastard Michael O Leary"

Diarmuid

The_Thing wrote: »

The title of this thread should have been "Sack the bastard Michael O Leary"

Only an idiot would sack the guy who built Ryanir from nothing, regardless what one thinks of his outbursts.

mrgaa1

MoL for Taoiseach!!!!!

The_Thing

Diarmuid wrote: »

Only an idiot would sack the guy who built Ryanir from nothing, regardless what one thinks of his outbursts.

Only a bastard idiot like O'Leary would pose in a swimsuit to promote his company.

Head The Wall

The_Thing wrote: »

Only a bastard idiot like O'Leary would pose in a swimsuit to promote his company.

Oh look the whining begrudgers don't even like it when a charity benefits.

Ryanair’s popular calendars, which have so far raised over €300,000 for charity

Ye probably dislike him because he doesn't tolerate unions, their useless members and the crap they try on.

dunsandin

And for a man who could live anywhere, he pays his taxes in ireland, unlike bonio and dob, that alone gives him the right to say what he likes, in my view. He's vilified by the begrudging plebs in FF and general "elitist" sections, and he's in the happy position of not giving a fiddles what anybody thinks of him. Why the f would he want to waste his time in a menial position like t-shirt?

The_Thing

Oh look the whining begrudgers don't even like it when a charity benefits.

I don't believe that RyanAir's miser-in-chief has got a single charitable bone in his body - it's all about promoting RyanAir. Only a whining begrudger like yourself would back up a profiteer who tried to avoid paying compensation to air travellers due to the Icelandic volcano - no sign of any charity from him there. It was great to see him having to back down in front of all of Europe when Brussels had a word with him. I'm delighted too to see that the unions in France have cost him dearly this week - more power to them.

Head The Wall

The_Thing wrote: »

I don't believe that RyanAir's miser-in-chief has got a single charitable bone in his body - it's all about promoting RyanAir. Only a whining begrudger like yourself would back up a profiteer who tried to avoid paying compensation to air travellers due to the Icelandic volcano - no sign of any charity from him there. It was great to see him having to back down in front of all of Europe when Brussels had a word with him. I'm delighted too to see that the unions in France have cost him dearly this week - more power to them.

Hey it's you that's doing the whining not me, you union lovers are such happy people. He made the choice to donate the proceeds to charity, if he loved money so much he would have just kept them

Thats still a whole lot better than our govt saying they can't afford a Cervical Cancer vaccine program for its own citizens, they would rather have people dying in this country so your fighting a losing battle there



You're just a whiny jealous begrudger, plain and simple

efb

He's Ireland's biggest taxpayer. He's very entitled to an opinion.

Lazy people, scroungers and those looking for a free ride are the only people who should fear MoL.

seamus

I don't like the man myself, he's arrogant, cocksure and is a pure capitalist - fnck the staff and the customers, maximise profit.

That said, he's honest. Nobody scares him and I'm sure he'd be more than happy to go to a meeting with Cowen about creating jobs and then afterwards give a press conference and tell us all about how incredibly incompentent the Taoiseach is.

I wouldn't vote him in as Taoiseach, but at the same time a hardline capitalist like MoL would bring some balance to the union-loving socialist policies that FF have been implementing in the CS for years.

The UK yesterday outlined a cut of 8% in their public sector workforce over the next 4 years. And they're not as badly off as we are. If our next budget focusses on saving the Croke Park agreement, we might as well forget about it and call in the IMF. At least then we'll get our pain and be out of this mess quicker.

20Cent

efb wrote: »

He's Ireland's biggest taxpayer. He's very entitled to an opinion.

Lazy people, scroungers and those looking for a free ride are the only people who should fear MoL.

Doubt anyone fears him except his employees. He has the right to say what he wants and fair play to him pity more people don't.
The problem I have with him is that his company gets tens of millions if not hundred in taxpayers money from all over Europe. We don't know how much its kept secret. His flights are subsidised by taxpayers who may never even get on a Ryanair plane. He then has the cheek to call others who work for the Gov scroungers, his whole business model is based on scrounging. And like I said fair play to him it is a great company.
As for being against collective bargaining by unions where does he get off?? He regularly threatens the Gov, bet he likes having the ear of Gov yet when Joe Soap wants to make their opinions heard he's against it. I can take any viewpoint so long as its honest and not hypocritical. He is a hypocrite.

seamus

20Cent wrote: »

The problem I have with him is that his company gets tens of millions if not hundred in taxpayers money from all over Europe. We don't know how much its kept secret. His flights are subsidised by taxpayers who may never even get on a Ryanair plane.

Really? You're the second person in this thread to claim that Ryanair receive Government funding. Is this a known fact?

20Cent

seamus wrote: »

Really? You're the second person in this thread to claim that Ryanair receive Government funding. Is this a known fact?

How do you think they can fly for 50c.
Ryanair profits boosted by subsidies, say rivals
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2010/0501/1224269451828.html

Ryanair ordered to pay back subsidies
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/ryanair-ordered-to-pay-back-subsidies-568676.html

Now personally I have no problem with it. Local airport pays Ryanair to bring in tourists so I guess they think its worth it for the local economy. Fair play to them.

But holding Ryanair up as an example of an entrepreneur being successful off its own back or as an example of competition at work is untrue.

Japer

efb wrote: »

He's Ireland's biggest taxpayer. He's very entitled to an opinion.

Lazy people, scroungers and those looking for a free ride are the only people who should fear MoL.

He also , more than any other person, built Ryanair from humble beginnings to be the largest airline in the world. One of the few - very few brand name companies to come out of Ireland. That and Guinness are the only 2 business brand names most foreigners know about Ireland. It is arguably Ireland most sucessful company by far.

Michael O'Leary should be crowned greatest Irish person of the past century. He done something really constructive, built a company employing thousands of people and lowered airfares to our little island. Anyone care to remember the days 30 years ago when the governments Aer Lingus used to charge a few hundred pounds ( a fortune in them days ) to get to England ? He is Irelands biggest taxpayer. His company never got, and never will get ( or probably need ) a grant or hand-out from the government. He sees first hand and knows only too well the waste and inefficiency in our public service. He is at least as deserving of a great Irish person title as the likes of those other 5 people being championed on tv: connolly, hume, robinson , bono ( who pays his tax in holland ) etc.
We could do with more O'Leary's : everytime he flies people from Frankfurt to Rome, be brings the profit back to Ireland, and pays tax on it.

seamus

I don't think it's fair to call that "scrounging". It's most likely that those airports approached Ryanair with the offer and now Ryanair can put the screws on when they want.

To say that the company depends on Government subsidies to stay afloat is misleading. It's normal for a local or regional authority to provide incentives to companies to bring employment and/or tourism to an area. Would you say that Intel are relying on Irish taxpayer subsidies to stay afloat? Or would you simply call this regional investment?

20Cent

seamus wrote: »

I don't think it's fair to call that "scrounging". It's most likely that those airports approached Ryanair with the offer and now Ryanair can put the screws on when they want.

To say that the company depends on Government subsidies to stay afloat is misleading. It's normal for a local or regional authority to provide incentives to companies to bring employment and/or tourism to an area. Would you say that Intel are relying on Irish taxpayer subsidies to stay afloat? Or would you simply call this regional investment?

Not saying they depend on subsidies but it certainly would be a lot smaller, less destinations and more expensive than it is now. Like I said fair play to him. It probably is a good thing. I'd call it regional investment as well.
But pretending that Ryanair is making all this money due to its own business skills is not true.

Air France-KLM sues Ryanair over 'subsidies'
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article7058373.ece

The article estimates that Ryanair are subsidised up to 11 euro per passenger. Ryanair are suing air France for a similar reason so they are probably all at it!

efb

Listen those regions that offer those subsidies know how valuable it is to them, and they're getting a great returnon investment. O'Leary being an excellent business man knows this.

The region wins. The airline wins. The public wins.

Genius

seamus

20Cent wrote: »

But pretending that Ryanair is making all this money due to its own business skills is not true.

Well it is though. "Oh look, it's going to be 11 euro cheaper per passenger to fly into this airport than the regional airport == more profit for us". That's a business decision. They're not receiving this subsidy regardless, they're receiving it because they're making the choices which allow them to receive it.

If they were flying into Dublin Airport and the DAA just started subsidising them for no reason, then you'd have a point. But ultimately they get subsidised by these airports because the airports recognise Ryanair's success and want to get a slice of the pie. So it's because of the man's business skills that they get these subsidies in the first place; it's a direct knock-on effect of his business approach.

The same argument applies to Intel and anyone else who gets IDA grants, subsidies and tax breaks for locating here. They are offered these grants because they are recognised as successful businesses.

20Cent

seamus wrote: »

Well it is though. "Oh look, it's going to be 11 euro cheaper per passenger to fly into this airport than the regional airport == more profit for us". That's a business decision. They're not receiving this subsidy regardless, they're receiving it because they're making the choices which allow them to receive it.

If they were flying into Dublin Airport and the DAA just started subsidising them for no reason, then you'd have a point. But ultimately they get subsidised by these airports because the airports recognise Ryanair's success and want to get a slice of the pie. So it's because of the man's business skills that they get these subsidies in the first place; it's a direct knock-on effect of his business approach.

The same argument applies to Intel and anyone else who gets IDA grants, subsidies and tax breaks for locating here. They are offered these grants because they are recognised as successful businesses.

I agree with you!!

Just saying its hypocritical for him to go criticising others for doing what he does.

Nijmegen

MoL sits on the far side of the spectrum to the beards who say we should borrow forever and ever, amen. The solution to our problems lie somewhere in the middle.

To the best of my knowledge, he can produce a tax certificate the likes of which certain other members of Ireland's top percentile can't. So I think that this, combined with a track record of success in business, makes him a man to listen to and from whom good advice can be distilled amongst all he says.

Anyone bashing government subsidies of regional airports is talking about cutting off their noses to spite their faces: The passengers Ryanair carries to these places don't get off, go buy something in duty free and fly home.

Cheap air travel promotes economic activity.

And as for those laughing at the trouble Ryanair may have thanks to strikes in France - well, yes, I'd say it'll hurt MoL a lot when he has to let go a load of cabin crew to the dole because there aren't profitable routes to France.

The thing about left wing idiots who shout "Down with business!" is that when a business goes down, it's people who lose their jobs.

20Cent

Nijmegen wrote: »

MoL sits on the far side of the spectrum to the beards who say we should borrow forever and ever, amen. The solution to our problems lie somewhere in the middle.

To the best of my knowledge, he can produce a tax certificate the likes of which certain other members of Ireland's top percentile can't. So I think that this, combined with a track record of success in business, makes him a man to listen to and from whom good advice can be distilled amongst all he says.

Anyone bashing government subsidies of regional airports is talking about cutting off their noses to spite their faces: The passengers Ryanair carries to these places don't get off, go buy something in duty free and fly home.

Cheap air travel promotes economic activity.

And as for those laughing at the trouble Ryanair may have thanks to strikes in France - well, yes, I'd say it'll hurt MoL a lot when he has to let go a load of cabin crew to the dole because there aren't profitable routes to France.

The thing about left wing idiots who shout "Down with business!" is that when a business goes down, it's people who lose their jobs.

Social welfare promotes economic activity also. Mention that and your chairman Mao, let a business be subsidised and its great. Just a hypocrisy there.

Unions use their leverage striking to get what they want it is considered socialism and bad. O'Leary uses his leverage (we will stop using your airport) its "good business". Don't see much difference between the two,

johnboy_123

I dont like this cnut but he has a valid point for once

Nijmegen

20Cent wrote: »

Social welfare promotes economic activity also. Mention that and your chairman Mao, let a business be subsidised and its great. Just a hypocrisy there.

Unions use their leverage striking to get what they want it is considered socialism and bad. O'Leary uses his leverage (we will stop using your airport) its "good business". Don't see much difference between the two,

100% of social welfare, and the activity it promotes, comes from tax.

If the government subsidises €10 (using round numbers) for me to fly into a regional airport, I spend the weekend there and spend €100 on a hotel, meals, pints (I'm a cheap date), then 10% of the economic activity generated was state subsidised, versus the €0 that would have been spent had they not subsidised the visit.

It's a big simplification. But social welfare and a subsidy for a regional airport are two different things in terms of the economic activity they generate.

To use business terms alien to the public sector in general, a well placed, thought out and justified subsidy should reap a profit.

AlekSmart

I rather suspect what pizzez-off most Irish folk about Michael O Leary is his fondness for saying it like it is.

O Leary has never attempted to portray himself as anything other than a one-trick pony.
He has in fact in a very recent interview reiterated that.

Our national fondness for obfuscation in everything has led us to elect and elevate generations of side-of-mouth people to positions of responsibility and power.

Once installed there,these charlatans will happily spout ad nauseum whatever stuff they believe the Proles want to hear....."More Beer and Crisps"...."No More Road Tax"...."Free Stuff for Everybody"....etc etc.

O Leary has,to my knowledge,never engaged in such stuff,but has unashamedly promoted his own Business and engaged aggressively with his competitors.

This sort of thing,in many Irish minds,is far too direct an attitude for a native to have and,as such,needs to be slapped right down.

As a nation we have historically produced the bravest and most inventive of people who have spread their influence far and wide,but they tended to have been followers rather than leaders and only to have reached their creative peak after being brought to their destinations by Leaders of a different hue.

Dirk Gently

AlekSmart wrote: »

I rather suspect what pizzez-off most Irish folk about Michael O Leary is his fondness for saying it like it is.

O Leary has never attempted to portray himself as anything other than a one-trick pony.
He has in fact in a very recent interview reiterated that.

TBH my biggest gripe with him isn't even MoL himself, its the cheer leaders who spout on about wishing he was Taoisigh. I recognise O Leary for what he is, an arrogant one dimensional child like figure who happens to be very good at promoting his own business. It's the people who believe society would be better off with him in charge of running the country that piss me off tbh.

AlekSmart wrote: »

O Leary has,to my knowledge,never engaged in such stuff,but has unashamedly promoted his own Business and engaged aggressively with his competitors.
.

Well he had no problem changing his tune on lisbon and campaigning for a yes vote 2nd time around when he wanted to win european support to buy out aer lingus, this after saying it would be undemocratic to vote after the first result returned a No (no doubt just sticking the boot into the government at the time).

I have major issues with the democratic process being used and abused by business people for the promotion of their own companies. At least he was transparent, unlike Ganley who I'm sure was standing on his own corporate ticket. Here we had two people on either side of the debate looking out for number 1 but frolicking about on national tv trying to be men of the people. Ganley himself a man of little substance politically was able to run rings around O Leary which makes me wonder how O leary would fair in a real debate with people who answer back as opposed to snotty press releases designed to get public back slaps cos sure hes a great man altogether.

If O leary wants to interfere in politics he should stand for election, maybe contact donegal and eldraob on here and set up a capitalist utopia party or something. Otherwise I wish he'd just stfu and concentrate on Ryan air instead of running united colours of benetton type campaigns for free publicity. He didnt even have to mention blow jobs this time to get his publicity. When I see him sit down and debate on vincent Browne or similar about how to run a country as opposed to an airline then I might respect him, otherwise he's just like every other idiot sitting on a bar stool spouting their solutions and getting in digs against the government. I suppose at least he has his own personal agenda so its constructive slogan shouting from his point of view. People dont see through this though and I suppose that's their fault, not his.

AlekSmart

People dont see through this though and I suppose that's their fault, not his.

Got in in 1,ClownBag,the very same principle which saw the State run as an off-shoot of one Political Party and it`s many "friends".....In a very real sense it has been "Our" fault. :mad:

20Cent

Obscene a multimillionaire calling people who are working, struggling to pay their mortgages look after their kids, Bastards. F him.

Head The Wall

20Cent wrote: »

The problem I have with him is that his company gets tens of millions if not hundred in taxpayers money from all over Europe.

He doesn't just get handed these subsidies, governments choose to offer them and they are put out to tender. There's more than ryanair getting these subsidies and if MOL wasn't getting them some other airline would. He can obviously offer the cheapest, most efficient and on time service compared to other airlines and anyone that doesn't like his business model has the choice not too fly with them. It's as simple as that

20Cent wrote: »

Obscene a multimillionaire calling people who are working, struggling to pay their mortgages look after their kids, Bastards. F him.

Peoples personal situations never come into account when redundancies or sackings are happening, what about the 300 who lost their jobs in Shannon Aerospace and IBM, do you reckon they only let go the single people with no mortgages. Get real

20Cent

Head The Wall wrote: »

He doesn't just get handed these subsidies, governments choose to offer them and they are put out to tender. There's more than ryanair getting these subsidies and if MOL wasn't getting them some other airline would. He can obviously offer the cheapest, most efficient and on time service compared to other airlines and anyone that doesn't like his business model has the choice not too fly with them. It's as simple as that



Peoples personal situations never come into account when redundancies or sackings are happening, what about the 300 who lost their jobs in Shannon Aerospace and IBM, do you reckon they only let go the single people with no mortgages. Get real

You know they are put out to tender?
Funny they are being sued all over Europe for illegal subsidies and for anti-competition practices.

Don't think O'Leary called the worker in Aerospace and IBM bastards just before they were fired. Maybe he did though the prick.

The_Thing

Head The Wall wrote: »

Hey it's you that's doing the whining not me, you union lovers are such happy people. He made the choice to donate the proceeds to charity, if he loved money so much he would have just kept them

I'm sure that along with MOL there's plenty of other business people in Ireland who donate to charity, however I have yet to see any of them make themselves look like an idiot in the process.

You're just a whiny jealous begrudger, plain and simple

Really? You seem to have made a successful career out of it.

Head The Wall

20Cent wrote: »

You know they are put out to tender?
Funny they are being sued all over Europe for illegal subsidies and for anti-competition practices.

Don't think O'Leary called the worker in Aerospace and IBM bastards just before they were fired. Maybe he did though the prick.

They are in this country, airlines have to compete for them and Ryanair took a few of them off Aer Arann. There's probably EU competition regulations behind it all.

His taxes aren't wasted paying the wages in IBM or Shannon Aerospace so why would he call them names. What hapopened in those companies will be happening in the PS, wait and see as there's no other way out of the situation we are in.

The_Thing wrote: »

I'm sure that along with MOL there's plenty of other business people in Ireland who donate to charity, however I have yet to see any of them make themselves look like an idiot in the process.

So your issue now is that he looks like an idiot while doing stuff for charity, you have obviously never done anything for charity if that is your gripe.

Again it's not me whining on here but you

irishh_bob

clown bag wrote: »

TBH my biggest gripe with him isn't even MoL himself, its the cheer leaders who spout on about wishing he was Taoisigh. I recognise O Leary for what he is, an arrogant one dimensional child like figure who happens to be very good at promoting his own business. It's the people who believe society would be better off with him in charge of running the country that piss me off tbh.


Well he had no problem changing his tune on lisbon and campaigning for a yes vote 2nd time around when he wanted to win european support to buy out aer lingus, this after saying it would be undemocratic to vote after the first result returned a No (no doubt just sticking the boot into the government at the time).

I have major issues with the democratic process being used and abused by business people for the promotion of their own companies. At least he was transparent, unlike Ganley who I'm sure was standing on his own corporate ticket. Here we had two people on either side of the debate looking out for number 1 but frolicking about on national tv trying to be men of the people. Ganley himself a man of little substance politically was able to run rings around O Leary which makes me wonder how O leary would fair in a real debate with people who answer back as opposed to snotty press releases designed to get public back slaps cos sure hes a great man altogether.

If O leary wants to interfere in politics he should stand for election, maybe contact donegal and eldraob on here and set up a capitalist utopia party or something. Otherwise I wish he'd just stfu and concentrate on Ryan air instead of running united colours of benetton type campaigns for free publicity. He didnt even have to mention blow jobs this time to get his publicity. When I see him sit down and debate on vincent Browne or similar about how to run a country as opposed to an airline then I might respect him, otherwise he's just like every other idiot sitting on a bar stool spouting their solutions and getting in digs against the government. I suppose at least he has his own personal agenda so its constructive slogan shouting from his point of view. People dont see through this though and I suppose that's their fault, not his.

vincent browne would have lenins skeleton on his show before michael o leary got an invite

TomKehoe

Head The Wall wrote: »

Ye probably dislike him because he doesn't tolerate unions, their useless members and the crap they try on.

I'm in a union. It frequently embarrasses me but, hey, my pay wouldn't be as good without it so I'm prepared put up with the embarrassment of having to support my lazy work-shy colleagues who do nothing useful at work but, like me, bring home good salaries. Sometimes though, I think the Michael OLearys of this world have a point.

Then I have another cup of tea and forget about it for another while.

padrepio

Where are the 500,000 jobs that people on the dole will automatically walk into?

typical populist publicity seeking ****e from MOL. A fine businessman no doubt, he transformed air travel in Europe (copied the idea from Southwest but so what), lives in Ireland, pays huge taxes and employs thousands etc.

MOL does not have the national interest at heart he has his own. I think most have realised it at this stage.

As others have mentioned he made an ass of himself in the Lisbon debates, remember Ganley making a complete fool of him, Ganley made some point about MOL only getting involved to curry flavour in Brussels and he just smirked and laughed to himself.

noone cares to mention his hairbrained investment in Aer Lingus that continues to cost his airline a packet, the way Ryanair still havent gone across the Atlantic etc. To be honest I dont think his exit strategy is far away anyway. Aer Lingus and Ryanair wont merge if MOL is still involved but both airlines may be forced to if the US and Europe recession continues.

Sleepy

TomKehoe wrote: »

I'm in a union. It frequently embarrasses me but, hey, my pay wouldn't be as good without it so I'm prepared put up with the embarrassment of having to support my lazy work-shy colleagues who do nothing useful at work but, like me, bring home good salaries. Sometimes though, I think the Michael OLearys of this world have a point.

Then I have another cup of tea and forget about it for another while.

Think about that again. We'll use round figures for the purposes of clarity.

Let's say The Department of Silly Walks is given an annual budget of €1,500,000 with €1,000,000 of this to be used for salaries.

Now, they can hire 20 people at a total cost to hire them of €50,000 using collective bargaining where everyone has to be paid the same salary.

Were those 20 to accept a payment for performance deal whereby the top 5 people got a good bonus and the next 5 got a lower bonus, the next 5 remain on their base-rate and the bottom 5 take a pay-cut. The best workers in the department could now expect to earn significantly above the 50k they're currently on and performance could reasonably be expected to increase.

Now, the Department needs to cut wage costs by 10% and now only has €900,000 to spend on it's workers or €45,000 per worker. So all staff can equally take that level of pay or were we to ignore the unions, the following could be done. Imagine that 20% of the workers in The Department of Silly Walks are like your "lazy work-shy colleagues", they could be let go resulting in a staff of 16 people who will accept a little more work each.

This could be dished out evenly as €56,250 per remaining worker, so productive staff could actually get pay raises while costs fell. Or, you could say that the base rate is going to raise to €55,000 per person and use the remaining €20,000 of your wage budget to pay for a bonus scheme to reward either the top 25% of staff by an extra €5,000 a year or, similar to the previous scheme, the top 25% get an extra €4k per year with the other 25% working above the median level getting an extra €1k.

The result is: less, better incentivised, more productive staff getting the same (or possibly more) work done and instead of your lazy, workshy colleagues bringing home good salaries like you do, you get a cut of their salary whilst the taxpayer saves money (possibly leading to lower taxes than would otherwise be necessary and further boosting your take-home pay) and the quality of Silly Walks improves.

TLDR: it's not just embarrasment that your lazy, workshy colleagues are costing you.