Election triumph for airport workers

TWO worker directors on the inaugural Shannon Airport Authority romped home with a combined two-thirds share of the ballot conducted among all trade union members last week.
SIPTU candidate Audrey Costelloe, who is part of the Shannon Duty Free Store staff, was elected on the first count and Joe Buckley of IMPACT, the union representing middle management, took the second seat when he was elected on the third count.
Ms Costelloe’s poll-topping vote of 91 first preferences amounted to 36% of the valid votes cast.
With Mr Buckley’s 76 first preferences equal to a 30% share, the two candidates seeking re-election won two-thirds of the valid poll.
In a four-sided contest, the candidates who were eliminated were Gavin Downes of the TEEU craft union, who received 29 first preferences and Ray Pine of SIPTU, who polled 51 first preferences.
Reflecting diminished trade union numbers since the rationalisation programme, which all but halved the workforce, the total valid poll of all union members came to 247.
This latest election also reduces the SIPTU presence on the airport authority from four in the inaugural authority to the single seat secured by Ms Costelloe.
In the first election of workers to the Shannon Airport Authority in 2005, SIPTU conducted its own internal ballot to secure three seats – Ms Costelloe, Linda Keane and John McCarthy – and Mr Buckley was elected in a separate election contest among IMPACT members.
The number of seats on the airport authority reserved for worker representatives was halved on the direction of Transport Minister Noel Dempsey at the end of last year.
SIPTU resistance to the reduced worker representation was taken onto the agenda of the national understanding talks that collapsed before the Budget.
The dispute held up the election of worker directors to the new Shannon Airport Authority named earlier in the year where ministerial nominees were also reduced in the interests of cost-saving, according to the minister’s orders.
The re-elected worker representatives on the airport board qualify for annual fees of €12,600.