Workers at the aircraft engine maintenance company Lufthansa Technik Airmotive Ireland have voted by a substantial majority to reject proposals on flexibility and work practice changes which management have indicated are vital for the future survival of the plant.
Following a ballot today unions at the facility at Rathcolle, Co Dublin said that staff had voted against the proposals which they maintained would have involved cuts in pay and overtime rates.
However they said that workers were prepared to go to the Labour Court or another recognised third party to find a solution to the dispute.
Management at the company said on Tuesday that a planned US$40 million investment at the facility would not proceed if the flexibility and work practice reform proposals were not accepted by staff.
It said that this would lead to the eventual wind down of the plant which currently employs 465 staff.
In a statement Ian McDonnell of the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) said: “Members have rejected the company proposals outlined at the Labour Relations Commission. As we indicated to them at the time greater consideration needed to be shown for the likely impact the changes would have on workers’ earnings”
“Under the company’s proposed changes the shift premium would be reduced from 20 per cent of basic pay to ten per cent. Workers would only be paid for half of the overtime worked each week and would have to ‘bank’ the rest. This could be paid for at the discretion of management in money or time off at a later date”, he said.
The company said on Tuesday that its proposals did not involve any job losses or pay cuts.
This evening Siptu Branch Organiser Teresa Hannick called on the company to re-enter talks with the unions
She said: “We warned management during 12 hours of talks at the Labour Relations Commission on Monday that further engagement was necessary if we were to reach an agreement that production workers at the plant would buy into.
“Management insisted on putting the proposals in their present form to the workforce and the result was rejection. The obvious thing now is to re-engage.”