STAFF AT the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) have voted overwhelmingly for industrial action as part of a campaign for improved pensions.
The union Siptu, which represents the staff, said 98 per cent of members voted to support the action.
The DAA said yesterday it had asked the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) to facilitate ongoing discussions about a range of pension issues of concern to staff at the company.
DAA said it strongly believed that any threat of industrial action at Dublin airport was unwarranted and a source of needless concern to customers as the busy holiday season commenced.
It said the company was committed to a speedy solution to the pension issues. It was prepared to invest €30 million to secure an appropriate and equitable solution to the pension issues raised. However, in return, it would be seeking agreed cost-management measures.
Siptu's aviation sectoral organiser Dermot O'Loughlin said: "Three years ago a claim was lodged with the DAA for reasonable improvements to the pension scheme.
"The remarkable patience of our members dissolved in early May when the company produced, as a proposal, a draconian workplace-changes document - 27 in total - as part of any settlement in the pensions dispute."
He said it was evident that the staff of the DAA had had enough. Billions of euro were being spent on bricks and mortar, as well as millions on consultants and advisers, but just a pittance was being spent on the provision of a meaningful pension.