Aer Rianta unions announce strike plans

Unions representing workers at Aer Rianta have announced plans to mount industrial action to protest Government plans to break the company into three competing entities.

The unions said this afternoon that the strike action would begin in Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports on November 4 unless Transport Minister Seamus Brennan responded positively to a request for talks under the auspices of an independent facilitator.

SIPTU spokesman Mick Halpenny said the action would take the form of a rolling campaign which would continue until an independently-chaired talks process was established to address the concerns of Aer Rianta workers.

Mr Halpenny said the Aer Rianta unions were also seeking a meeting of the Government’s National Implementation Body to consider Mr Brennan’s failure to agree to the unions’ request for independently-chaired talks on his Aer Rianta break-up plans.

Reports this morning said the industrial action campaign devised by the unions today was likely to include small-scale stoppages in the run-up to Christmas and major strike action once the Government assumed the EU presidency in January.

The five unions representing Aer Rianta workers have expressed strong opposition to the Government’s plans to divide Aer Rianta into three separate companies to run Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports.

Minister Brennan has claimed that the move will bring economic benefits for all three airports, but the unions insist it will lead to job losses and an erosion of employment conditions, as well as deteriorating services.