A STRIKE which had threatened to cause significant disruption at the country’s three main airports on Thursday has been called off.
Following a three-hour meeting yesterday Siptu representatives at the DAA, the Dublin Airport Authority, decided to defer the planned action, which was over the payment of increments, and to attend conciliation talks at the LRC, the Labour Relations Commission, today.
In a statement yesterday, Siptu said it was not invoking industrial action and called on the airport authority “to comply with all existing agreements, including those relating to the payment of increments”.
The decision by Siptu’s branch at the airport to serve strike notice on the company in the row over increments had come as a major embarrassment to the union leadership which had just embarked on social partnership talks with the Government on an economic recovery programme. Siptu at national level had said it had not sanctioned the proposed strike.
The DAA operates the country’s three main airports at Dublin, Cork and Shannon, and the threatened strike, to run between 4am and noon on Thursday, would have led to the cancellation of flight operations for this period.
The DAA last night welcomed Siptu’s decision to call off the strike and to attend talks at the LRC. However, it said it was disappointed that the local Siptu branch decided to wait until yesterday afternoon to make this decision.
Earlier yesterday Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary strongly criticised the threatened strike and called on the Government to put the Army on standby to take over critical services such as airport security and air traffic control.