Hundreds of workers at Lufthansa Airmotive Ireland are expected to gather outside its Rathcoole plant in Co Dublin today in protest at a High Court injunction. An injunction requiring named shop stewards and the three unions to abide by an existing agreement was granted to the aircraft maintenance company by Mr Justice Murphy at a special hearing of the High Court yesterday. LAI sought the injunction because unofficial industrial action has stopped production at Rathcoole since Tuesday. The workers walked off the job and occupied the canteen after three contract workers were brought in without consultation.
Last night Mr Eamon Devoy of the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union said on behalf of the group of unions that it was not defying the High Court ban. The unions are SIPTU, the TEEU and the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union.
Mr Devoy claimed the company was in breach of the agreement by requiring workers to sign declarations stating they would work alongside contract workers and be available for Sunday and night shifts, before letting them resume work.
A spokesman for the company said action taken since Tuesday was in breach of the plant agreement and that the use of contract workers was a regular feature of the aviation industry.