Industrial action may hit Shannon

WHILE there will be no industrial action by workers at Shannon Airport on September 20, as had been feared, SIPTU has informed the Dublin Airport Authority (which operates Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports) of an intention to carry out industrial action at the start of next month.

An issue with the Irish Aviation Superannuation Scheme is at the heart of the dispute. While Aer Lingus employees represented by SIPTU are also affected, it’s understood that the union feel there has been more constructive dialogue with the airline than there has been with the DAA.

Speaking to The Clare Champion on Wednesday, Frank Connolly of SIPTU said, “Notice of industrial action was served yesterday on the Dublin Airport Authority, not on Aer Lingus, in relation to this dispute over pensions. It’s three weeks notice with industrial action commencing on October 1, unless there is some sort of meaningful discussion leading to a resolution of the pensions issue.”
He said, at a minimum, the union would require “discussions that allow figures to be put on the table that show there’s a meaningful initiative on the part of the DAA”.

Mr Connolly said the problem has come about because of new regulations on pensions. “This arises from a new requirement by the Pensions Regulator on pension fund managers, which are, in SIPTU’s view, unfair and have put pension funds covering about 300,000 workers in the private sector in serious jeopardy. It arises from those regulations, it’s not something that the DAA has unilaterally enforced.”

He said, as it stands, workers’ security is affected. “The big problem is the failure to give a guarantee to workers that have been paying into pension funds for many years, that their pensions will be covered and the value of the pensions will be realised”.
Members of other unions are also affected by the issue with pensions and have also voted to authorise industrial action, if a resolution isn’t found.

Speaking to The Clare Champion last month, Liam Berney of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions said, “Essentially, there’s a very large hole in the scheme, there’s anywhere between €600 and €700 million of a hole there.

“We’re in negotiations with the employers trying to resolve the matter and so far the employers have not come forward with any proposals that we can bring to the consideration of our members. Therefore, the unions decided to have ballots of industrial action. The ballots were carried overwhelmingly and we’re still awaiting proposals from the employers as to how the hole in the scheme will be addressed. That’s the long and the short of it really,” he concluded.