This article is from page 6 of the 2005-11-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
THE Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has complained to the Department of Transport over the “aggressive campaign” being pursued to persuade over 500 workers at Shannon Air- port to accept redundancy.
The workforce at Shannon have until Wednes- day of next week to express interest in a redun- dancy package being put forward by the Dub- lin Airport Authority’s Director for Change, John Horgan. In a “survival plan”, Mr Horgan warned that Shannon’s underlying financial sit- uation is untenable, forecasting that the airport will have accumulated losses of €137 million by 2014 if immediate action is not taken.
However, in a letter to the Department’s As- sistant Secretary, John Murphy, from ICTU’s Industrial Officer, Liam Berney, Mr Horgan is accused of “pursuing an aggressive campaign which seeks to pressurise workers into accept- ing redundancy, while at the same time out- sourcing most of the work currently being done by direct employees of Shannon Airport.
“T cannot overstate the difficulties his actions have caused for the unions at Shannon and the wider union movement. Similarities have been drawn between the actions of Mr Horgan on behalf of a state-owned company and that of Irish Ferries management.
“There can be little doubt that his actions fly in the face of commitments given to Congress
by Government generally, by the Taoiseach in particular and the understanding reached as part of Sustaining Progress in relation to Pub- lic Enterprise.”
The letter continued, “It beholds the DAA to refocus negotiations and seek, in partner- ship with employees and their representatives, agreed restructuring. At an early stage, it was made clear to Mr Horgan that while the unions would be willing to have constructive dialogue on the cost base at Shannon, this was predicat- ed on the completion of a detailed analysis of the financial position, within the context that outsourcing of work was not an option.
“The financial position of Shannon is almost complete and the unions will be ready shortly
to engage in dialogue about any cost inefficien- cies. Concern was expressed during the course of the meeting about the future of the bilateral agreement with the United States. There is no doubt that this has provided a strong source of income for Shannon which in turn has sustained employment in the airport and Mid-West, and contributed to balanced regional development.
“While we note your frank assessment of the progress of negotiations between the European Commission and the US and the bilateral dis- cussions between Ireland and the US, careful consideration needs to be given of the possible grave implications for Shannon which may arise if the current arrangements cease, particularly in planning for the future of the airport.”