SIPTU is planning a general clear-out of its Aer Lingus branch once talks on cabin crew pay conclude. The loss of more than 1,000 cabin crew to IMPACT was a major psychological and organisational blow to Ireland's largest union and now there is talk of some 1,500 general operatives leaving to join the ATGWU. Some say SIPTU is too large anyway and would be better off smaller and more focused. However, that's not how things are viewed from the 15th floor of Liberty Hall.
Aer Lingus branch secretary, Tony Walsh, will head SIPTU's bench-marking unit and the assistant branch secretary, Morgan Nolan, is expected to return to the private sector. He would almost certainly have got Walsh's job if he wanted it, but the mayhem caused by a shut-down of the whole airport a couple of years ago proved too hot a baptism.
Liberty Hall accepts dissatisfaction among cabin crew developed over a long period and stresses no blame attaches to either Walsh or Nolan. In fact, at one stage it looked as if caterers and clerical staff might join cabin crew in defecting elsewhere, but the two succeeded in halting the move.
Now the biggest problem SIPTU faces may be in finding someone to run its airport branch. One senior union officer was overheard suggesting the ideal candidate would be a devout Catholic who had committed a reserved sin and would not flinch at the price of salvation, however severe.