Strike action threatens flights and bus services
Further transport disruption was threatened tonight after trade union bosses served strike action notice on Aer Lingus.
Siptu declared ground staff, including baggage handlers, will stage four-hour walkouts at three of the state’s main airports next week.
The industrial action will centre on Dublin, Shannon and Cork airports next Tuesday and Friday over a row about the airline’s cost-cutting measures.
The threatened strike comes as thousands of commuters were forced to make alternative travel arrangements over a row at Dublin Bus which saw many services disrupted.
Siptu said it has served notice to strike at the airports over Aer Lingus plans to allegedly “downgrade” working conditions.
Michael Halpenny, National Industrial Secretary, said: “This latest attack on our members comes on the heels of a pay freeze imposed by the company simply because our members have not agreed to allow the company to cut their pay and conditions.”
Meanwhile, there was no sign of the deepening row between Dublin Bus bosses and workers abating as more than 100 drivers staged an official picket at the company’s Harristown depot in north Dublin.
Staff walked out around 5.30am this morning after a member of the National Bus and Rail Union was suspended for refusing to operate new routes.
Siptu members working for Dublin Bus joined in the action resulting in dozens of bus routes, mostly in the north of the capital, being severely impacted.
Padraig Yeates, Siptu spokesman, said: “Everything’s deadlocked at the moment. The gap between the two sides is too big or was too big to allow for mediation before now, so I suppose it’s a case of the disruption continuing and pressure mounting until somebody tries to intervene.”
The union leader would not rule out the possibility of the disruption spreading to other depots and routes.
“It’s happened before and there’s no reason to think it couldn’t happen again,” he said.
