Airport staff say toilets are filthy and stinking

Members of the Siptu trade union will decide on Tuesday whether to accept assurances that "filthy working conditions" at Dublin Airport have been eradicated.

The eight ground transport workers, members of Siptu's aviation branch, staged a three-day walkout this week over what they claimed were serious health and safety issues in relation to toilets, rest areas and general working conditions.

Siptu official Pat Ward said workers had made numerous complaints to the Dublin Airport Authority before a final 48 hours notice, which expired last Monday. Mr Ward insisted the stoppage was not an industrial action, but a stoppage "due to health and safety considerations".

The ground transport workers are employed in two sections, assisting in the taxi-holding area and on the arrivals ramp with passengers seeking public transport.

Their complaints related to the condition of their designated toilets located in a portable cabin in the taxi area, near the Great Southern Hotel at the airport. Working in a 5ft square box, the staff collect fees of 70 cents from taxi drivers.

They share the improvised toilets with the taxi drivers each day and described the toilets as being "filthy"and "stinking" as well as a danger to health. "The floor is sometimes covered in excrement and urine," said one of the airport workers, who added that a sink had been used as a toilet bowl.

Staff also complained they had no official break room and were forced to use the restaurant area in the main terminal building, which is between 15 and 20 minutes away on foot.

A female worker said she did not feel safe working alone at night and they had no lockers for their belongings. A male colleague had complained he was pushed and threatened by two men in a car after asking them to move because they were blocking the taxi access.

Mr Ward told The Irish Times that the airport authority had "gone some way" towards rectifying the situation but issues in relation to safety from assault remained outstanding. His members were "not refusing to work, but are refusing to work in an unsafe environment".

Mr Ward said a further meeting would be held on Tuesday to assess the situation after which he would be consulting his members.

An airport authority spokeswoman said the toilets were recently installed after concerns from taxi drivers over previous facilities.

Siptu was invited to discuss matters related to this "unofficial dispute" on March 8th and that the union hadn't responded.