Labour Court hearing today in bid to resolve aviation dispute

AIR traffic controllers and the Irish Aviation Authority meet in the Labour Court this morning to see if they can reach a deal which would avert further strike action at the country’s three main airports.

While accepting the invitation, the authority and controllers both continued to maintain entirely different reasons as to why more than 100 flights and 20,000 passengers were grounded by cancellations on Wednesday afternoon.

IMPACT trade union, which represents the controllers, said it had taken the action because 14 of its members were suspended for refusing to cooperate with new technology. The IAA said the action was motivated by controllers’ greed as they tried to secure a 6% pay increase.