Siptu votes against DAA pension proposal

Siptu could demand that the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) increase its €72 million contribution to a new staff pension scheme after the union’s members rejected proposals to tackle the €750 million deficit in their retirement fund.

The trade union is seeking a meeting with DAA chief executive Kevin Toland after its members in Dublin and Shannon airports voted against a proposal designed to end the dispute over the insolvent Irish Airlines' Superannuation Scheme (IASS) that involved the airport contributing €72 million to a new pension fund.

The vote dashed hopes that the four-year row over the €750 million shortfall in the joint Aer Lingus-DAA scheme could be resolved in coming weeks. The airline’s workers and shareholders have already approved its proposals to put €191 million into the new fund.

Siptu pensions adviser Dermot O'Loughlin said the union was likely to seek an increase in the sum that the airport company had pledged for the new fund as the contributions for each member fell short of what Aer Lingus was paying for its staff.

Pay freeze

As an example, Mr O’Loughlin said that Siptu found that, for a worker with 26½ years service earning €38,000 a year, Aer Lingus was putting €94,000 into the new fund, while DAA was putting just €64,000. “That has not been challenged,” he said.

However, Aer Lingus staff have agreed to a pay freeze, saving the airline €80 million. Also, once the new scheme starts, it will not pay employer pension contributions for shift allowances and will instead buy this out by putting an extra €30 million into the fund.

Reacting to the news, the airport manager indicated that it did not intend to increase the €72 million already on the table. “DAA has made it clear on a number of occasions that no alternative offer will be made,” the company.

The current proposals came from an expert panel set up earlier this year by the Government, Irish Congress of Trade Unions and employers' group, Ibec, in a bid to resolve the deadlock.

The DAA pointed out that it has consistently said that the proposals, including the €72 million investment in the new scheme, followed by ongoing employer contributions, “represent a full and final offer to resolve pension issues at the company”.