SIPTU President Jack O’Connor has authorised the serving of notice of industrial action on the Dublin Airport Authority in the dispute over the €700 million pensions deficit. The union said that it would stage industrial action on Monday 1st October if the dispute is not resolved, comprising two staggered two-hour work stoppages on a location-by-location basis.
Kieran Mulvey, Chief Executive of the Labour Relations Commission, said that talks aimed at resolving the dispute over the deficit in the Irish Aviation Pension Scheme for the two companies had been adjourned to allow the LRC to try to formulate a proposal that might have a reasonable prospect of resolving the row over the next few days.
Jack O’Connor said the row was not the fault of Aer Lingus, the DAA or the unions, but that the blame lay with the Pensions Regulator. He blamed the dispute on tough new funding regulations for pensions, which he said would have the ridiculous and absurd effect of forcing schemes to close instead of protecting them. He forecast that the pensions funding standard issue would lead to many strikes over the next three to six months, as up to 310,000 workers would have to battle to preserve their pension entitlements.
A “very disappointed” DAA said: “To serve notice of industrial action at this time, while the LRC process is ongoing, is totally unwarranted and will cause unnecessary concern and inconvenience to the travelling public.”
