All flights under threat as union backs strike

ALL flights out of the country could be grounded after air traffic controllers voted to strike following a dispute with the Irish Aviation Authority.

The row, the result of the company’s failure to provide jobs to 22 student controllers it spent €1.2 million training, could lead to the total shutdown of Irish airspace on September 15, disrupting 1,000 domestic flights and a further 1,000 overflights.

Controllers voted by 86.37% in favour of taking industrial action if the IAA dismisses the newly-qualified controllers on September 15, D-day for a company decision on their futures.

A spokeswoman for the IAA has confirmed there are no jobs for the student controllers at Cork, Dublin or Shannon.

They have been put on extended leave while the firm attempts to negotiate contracts for six of them in South Africa.

It is the first time the IAA has not been able to offer student controllers jobs.

The company blames a downturn in the aviation industry in the wake of September 11 but its profits were up from €4.5m in 2001 to €5.3m last year.

If all-out strike action does go ahead, flights will be unable to depart from or land at any Irish airports and transit traffic will be unable to pass through Irish airspace. Effectively, it will mean aircraft cannot come within 25 miles of the country’s east coast and within 250 miles of the west coast.

Lilian Cassin, spokeswoman for the IAA, disputed the union claim that 2,000 flights would be affected. She estimated around 1,500 would be hit.

IMPACT, the union representing the controllers, is considering a range of industrial action measures, up to and including an all-out strike.

“The bottom line is if the company doesn’t resolve this dispute by September 1, we will be serving it with strike notice on that day, to commence on September 15,” said Pat Noctor, general secretary of IMPACT’s air traffic controllers branch.

He said the union was willing to engage in all industrial relations mechanisms in order to resolve the dispute.

The row that lead to the threat of industrial action blew up on July 31, the day the 22 students completed their training, when the IAA said it was not in a position to employ them. This followed almost a year of intensive training.

IMPACT will meet the IAA today as attempts continue to resolve the dispute. Ms Cassin said the IAA had no comment to make until the talks had been completed. However, she said the South African contracts were “looking good”.