Aer Rianta union demands halt to break-up plan

AER RIANTA union representatives are to demand an immediate halt to preparations to break up the company when they meet with Department of Transport officials tomorrow.

SIPTU senior aviation official Dermot O'Loughlan said nothing less than a complete halt to the break-up process would satisfy Aer Rianta's 10,000 workers, who voted overwhelmingly for industrial action at the weekend. "We really need to achieve a halt to this entire process. It flies in the face of realistic consultation which this is supposed to be to be proceeding with the appointment of board members for the three companies. If this is to be fair consultation, then the least our members expect is that the process comes to a halt," he said.

SIPTU is also disappointed that the meeting will not be attended by Transport Minister Séamus Brennan and will instead be chaired by department general secretary Julie O'Neill. Angry workers believe the department and the Government have no real intention to meet with staff and address concerns over the impact of the break-up on jobs.

A meeting at Dublin Airport last week, which was not attended by any Government minister despite 11 Fianna Fáil ministers being invited, has added to that perception, said Mr O'Loughlan.

"We are very disappointed that the minister himself is not meeting us. It was bad enough that our public meeting last week was snubbed by all Government TDs and now the minister won't even be at tomorrow's meeting at all and is instead relying on his secretary general," he said.

Regardless of the outcome of the meeting, SIPTU's industrial action committee is set to meet before Wednesday to decide on when to commence strike action, likely to cause travel chaos as air services shut down. SIPTU sources are privately also considering the possibility of linking up with CIÉ and possibly Aer Lingus unions in a bid to co-ordinate industrial action to cause maximum disruption.

However, a spokesman for Mr Brennan said any halt to the process of separating Aer Rianta into three separate companies was unlikely.

"We're not going back to square one on this one. The legislation has been drafted and a tender has gone out for consultants to advise the department on the break-up of the company," he said. The spokesman said industrial action hadn't become an issue yet for the department, but warned that any damage to the aviation industry would be highly irresponsible.

Meanwhile, writing in today's Irish Examiner, Mr Brennan said he saw the introduction of independent Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports as the beginning of a challenging and exciting new era for aviation in Ireland which would herald better value for customers.