This article is from page 12 of the 2012-10-02 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
STRIKE action will take place at Shannon Airport later this month if “meaningful” progress on the issue of pensions is not made in the coming week. That was the SIPTU warning after the union announced it was to temporarily suspend planning rolling strikes at Shannon, Cork and Dublin airports.
Strike action was due to begin at Shannon Airport yesterday, October 1, but this has been put on ice to allow for further negotiations to take place.
Union bosses say they will “reluctantly” re-enter talks at Labour Relations Commission (LRC) with the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) and Aer Lingus this week.
This comes following warnings from the Aer Lingus top brass that they would sue the union officials personally for any revenue lost as a result of the strike.
Despite the mini breakthrough in the dispute, SIPTU officials warned that they have merely removed the strike notice temporarily and still have a mandate to strike at Shannon if progress is not made.
The dispute centres on a € 170 million shortfall in Irish Airlines Superannuation Scheme, a pension jointly operated by DAA, Aer Lingus and SR Technics. The dispute involves a large number of SIPTU members but Impact, Unite, Mandate and the TEEU members are also involved.
Meanwhile, new figures released by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) show that number of flights using Shannon Airport continued to fall in August, despite an overall increase nationally.
An average of 56 flights used Shannon Airport each day in August, a 4.7 per cent drop on the previous year. There was also a 1.7 per cent drop at Cork Airport, but these figures were offset by a 2.7 per cent increase in the number of flights using Dublin Airport.
Nationally, the August figures are encouraging for Ireland as it was the first time this year that en-route traffic movements, North Atlantic communications flights and international arrivals and departures have all shown an increase.