This article is from page 4 of the 2008-01-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
FEARS that a dispute might ground Aer Lingus flights have been allevi- ated after SIPTU agreed to go along with procedures suggested by the Na- tional Implementation Body (NIB). SIPTU shop stewards agreed to
keep working with Aer Lingus to shave another €10 million off the airline’s budget. Agreement has al- ready been reached on how the air- line can save an initial €10 million, mainly through the introduction of flexible start times and new rosters. The union had threatened stoppages
which would have grounded planes at Shannon and other airports. In a statement SIPTU said it has “agreed to remain within the process estab- lished by the National Implementa- tion Body to find alternative ways of achieving the €20 million savings being sought by Aer Lingus manage-
ment”.
Shop stewards considered the pro- posals made by the NIB on Decem- ber 21 and are “happy it is achieving our objective of identifying alterna- tive savings to the proposed cuts in pay being sought by the company, ’ according to Aer Lingus Branch Or- ganiser, Teresa Brannick.
SIPTU has referred the pay freeze imposed by the company on employ- ees on October | to the Labour Re- lations Commission and the Labour Court. A spokeswoman for the union said this does not interfere with the NIB process.
An Aer Lingus spokeswoman not- ed the outcome of the shop stewards’ meeting and welcomed “their leader- ship in this important process.”
She added that the company is “ful- ly committed to continuing to engage positively with the union”.
The row behind the threatened rollover stoppages centres on union claims that proposed airline meas- ures will cost staff €4,000 a year.
The NIB has recommended that negotiations should be completed by the end of this month. The savings so far have been agreed with ground staff. Further savings will be sought from other workers, including cabin crew, pilots and craft workers.
Rolling stoppages had been threat- ened for dates in mid-November. The NIB, the state’s industrial relations trouble-shooting body, stepped in at the eleventh hour to bring the two sides together.