Dublin Airport faces the threat of serious disruption from next week when a dispute involving staff at CityJet Handling is likely to escalate. A number of front desk and baggage handling staff have been on strike at the company since July in pursuit of a pay claim.
Shop stewards representing 6,000 airport workers met yesterday and decided to hold a mass meeting of staff at lunchtime next Wednesday. If the dispute is not settled before then, workers in a number of unions are expected to plan industrial action, which could take place as early as the following weekend.
While an all-out strike is considered unlikely, a union source said last night that a series of actions was on the cards.
Management of CityJet has refused to meet the strikers' union, SIPTU, to discuss the pay claim.
In a statement yesterday the company said it did not recognise unions as the majority of its workers had "constantly opted for the current internal staff representation process". It said the company employed 145 people and only 13 had been seeking union recognition.
Mr Dermot O'Loughlin, of SIPTU's civil aviation branch, said there were fewer than 100 employees in the front desk and baggage-handling areas, 76 of whom were members of SIPTU.
