MORE THAN 100 flights in and out of Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports are expected to be cancelled this afternoon due to industrial action by more than 300 air traffic controllers.
The work stoppage will affect at least 13,000 passengers and will close runways at Cork, Shannon and Dublin airports between 2pm and 6pm. Flights through Irish air space will also be affected.
Trade union Impact yesterday announced the action following the suspension of up to 15 air traffic controllers by their employer, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), for refusing to co-operate with new technology.
Intervention by the Government looked unlikely last night as Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey urged both parties to make every effort to resolve the dispute through the Labour Court.
Mr Dempsey has no direct power to intervene in the authority, which is an autonomous semi-State body.
“The Government is very concerned about the serious consequences of this threatened industrial action for air passengers and the economy,” a spokesman for Mr Dempsey said last night.
In the past the National Implementation Body (NIB), the State's main troubleshooting mechanism under social partnership, would have intervened in such a dispute, a senior union source told The Irish Times. However, following the collapse of partnership the status of the body was "uncertain". There had been "no suggestion" that the body would intervene in this matter and it would "absolutely not" happen at the moment, the source said.
Ryanair cancelled 48 flights for today, affecting 6,000 passengers, while Aer Lingus cancelled 64 flights, affecting 7,000 passengers.
However, the status of some flights, many between 5pm and 6pm, had not been changed to cancelled last night.
Passengers whose flight had not been cancelled were being advised to check the status of their flight with the airline and to report to the airports as normal.
Aer Lingus and Ryanair are offering refunds or transfers to passengers whose flights were cancelled.
Impact is ready to call off the strike “at a moment’s notice” if the suspended workers were put back on the payroll by the IAA, Michael Landers, the union’s assistant general secretary, said last night.
Impact and the IAA last week agreed to discuss the matter at the Labour Court, he said.
The “status quo should be maintained” and staff should not be suspended until the court has ruled, he said.
Mr Landers said that the dispute was not about money but technology, including “new computer systems and new procedures to move planes around in a different manner”.
The changes would be more complex, mentally demanding and more stressful for controllers, he said.
However, the IAA said that it had “no choice” but to suspend controllers who had stopped doing ongoing work they have already been doing.
“We cannot function if we have to pay people every time we upgrade a system,” Mr Kavanagh said. “The real issue here is money.”
He said that the controllers wanted a 6 per cent pay increase agreed in the last partnership deal, which would cost the IAA €6 million a year.
The controllers do not want to contribute to their pension which the IAA funds to the extent of 30.5 per cent of salary which is on average €112,000, he said.
Mr Landers accused the IAA of “trying to muddy waters” because these were separate issues from today’s dispute.
The salary issue would be dealt with separately in the LRC and talks on pensions were ongoing, he said.
Further industrial action is to be discussed during the controller union meeting to be held during the work stoppage.
More suspensions are anticipated today as air traffic controllers continue to follow union instructions not to co-operate with new work practices.
