PRODUCT PROFILE

Latest Dublin Prices

DAA in court to stop Monday's strike

Tuesday, September 25 16:26:08

The Dublin Airport Authority is to ask the High Court to issue an injunction to stop SIPTU members from Dublin, Cork and Shannon Airports going on strike next Monday.

The DAA was today granted leave to give SIPTU short notice of its intention to seek injunctions restraining the proposed strike actions.

Senior counsel for the DAA Brian O’Moore told Ms Justice Maureen Clarke that the authority had been given notice of the action by Siptu on September 11th following a ballot of members in July last.

Mr O’Moore, who appeared with Mr Tom Mallon, said there were issues between the trade union and the DAA in connection with a pension scheme known as the Irish Airlines Superannuation Scheme.

SIPTU criticised the DAA in a statement this afternoon for seeking a High Court injunction to prevent industrial action planned for next Monday “instead of engaging in constructive negotiations to resolve the dispute over pensions”.

The dispute arises because DAA and Aer Lingus are no longer prepared to honour their obligations fund the pension scheme, the Union alleges.

“This, in turn, has come about because the Authorities are insisting on compliance with an absurdly ridiculous funding standard for these schemes.”

SIPTU Sector Organiser, Dermot O’Loughlin said: “We are disappointed to hear of the High Court proceedings. Our members are frustrated and annoyed at the DAA for adopting tactics that will only serve to aggravate a very difficult and complex situation. This pensions crisis did not begin today or yesterday. In fact, SIPTU has been proactively engaged for over two years in trying to find fair and reasonable solutions to these unfortunate circumstances which arise because of the unfair funding standards being imposed on pension funds by the Pensions Regulator.”

Senior counsel for the DAA Brian O’Moore told Ms Justice Maureen Clarke that the authority had been given notice of the action by Siptu on September 11th following a ballot of members in July last.

Mr O’Moore, who appeared with Mr Tom Mallon, said there were issues between the trade union and the DAA in connection with a pension scheme known as the Irish Airlines Superannuation Scheme.

Negotiations had been ongoing under the auspices of the Labour Relations Commission with Siptu to resolve these issues.

He told the court the DAA was involved in separate agreements relating to two critical groups of workers employed by the authority, the fire and police service and the security search unit.

These agreements provided that Siptu would not engage in any strike, walk-out or suspension of work and that all work issues would be resolved through the Labour Court and the labour relations mechanism.