The trade union Impact has told the Government and the National Implementation Body (NIB) that up to one-third of air traffic controllers are completely opposed to overtime becoming a feature of their employment. Martin Wall, Industry Correspondent, reports.
Talks are to take place at the Labour Court on Monday in the dispute between air traffic controllers and the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) which is threatening to ground all flights next Thursday.
About 90,000 air passengers will be affected if the one-day strike goes ahead.
Impact is also scheduled to put in place an official overtime ban from Tuesday, which could also disrupt services.
Impact general secretary Peter McLoone this week told members of the NIB, the main trouble-shooting mechanism under social partnership, that any resolution to the current row that involved institutionalising overtime would be roundly rejected by staff.
Impact insists that the row is over a chronic shortage of staff but the aviation authority argues it is about "enhanced overtime/ call-in payments and rosters".
It is understood Impact wants any new deal on overtime to be seen as a measure to be put in place until additional staff come on stream over the next year or so.
Informed sources said Impact told the National Implementation Body that any resolution had to recognise the manpower problems and that it should not underestimate the level of resistance to overtime among staff.
It is understood Impact proposed in talks with the aviation authority that there should be a structured overtime system introduced as part of a new arrangement until additional staff numbers became available.
Sources said that as part of this proposal, Impact proposed that all air traffic controllers should make themselves available for overtime on 12 days during the year.
Under the proposal, management would call on individual controllers to work overtime on at least six days a year. In return for this arrangement, the staff concerned would receive a special payment.
Some sources maintained that this figure could be about €10,000 although this has not been confirmed.
It is understood that under the Impact proposal, air traffic controllers called in for overtime on more than six days would be paid an hourly rate.
Sources said that under the proposal the staff would have to be paid for a minimum of six hours. Impact and the aviation authority declined to comment on the proposals.
Ryanair yesterday called on Impact and the aviation authority to publish details of what the union sought in the talks last week.
"The public is entitled to know why the Irish airports are being repeatedly closed by a small group of public sector workers who earn an average of €140,000 per annum, yet have a rostered working week of 35 hours," the airline said.
Ryanair described recent disruption to flights caused by shortages of air traffic controllers as a "blue flu" scandal.
It contended that the controllers were seeking reductions in rostered working hours, a 15 per cent increase in pay for volunteering for overtime and a 50 per cent increase in the overtime rate from €800 to €1,200 a day. Impact has denied these claims.