Unions at Aer Rianta have adjourned disucussions this evening without deciding to call off Thursday two-hour work-stoppage planned for Dublin, Shannon and Cork Airports.
They received a letter today from the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, outlining public guarantees he had given to workers, asssuring then that the terms and conditions of their employment would not be affected by plans to break up the company.
The letter, which union leaders have been considering this evening, was sent in response to nine points of clarrification sought by the biggest union at Aer Rianta, SIPTU.
It is understood that Mr Brennan's letter says there is no intention to privitise Aer Rianta and that he expects employment to increase at the three airports over the coming years.
This evening's meeting broke up without a decision on whether to postpone the action in light of Mr Brennan's leter, and will recovene at 4 p.m. tomorrow.
The stoppage on Thursday is still scheduled to go ahead, and is designed to embarrass the Government by disrupting flights carrying EU justice ministers and officials to a meeting in Dublin.
Unions are opposed to the Minister's plans to break up Aer Rianta into three separate companies for Dublin, Shannon and Cork airports - which they say will adversely affect job security and the terms of employment.
Yesterday, Mr Dermot O'Loughlin, secretary of SIPTU's civil aviation branch, said the guarantees would have to be "much more detailed and substantial than anything we've seen before" if they were to be accepted. He believed it was "more probable than possible" that the action would go ahead.
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/irishtimes/518d93d3-f26f-4914-9ae0-93b67a60d484.png)