Security staff at Dublin airport yesterday voted to begin implementing Ryanair's new online
check-in system "under protest" until improved pay and working conditions are negotiated.
The vote by security staff follows last week's ruling by the Labour Relations Commission
(LRC) which recommended that the Airport Search Unit (ASU) co-operate with Ryanair's new Check'N'Go system with immediate effect.
A spokesman for the union said, however, that their co-operation would be strictly "under protest" until May 31st, by which time they expected recognition of their "outstanding issues" in relation to the incremental pay scale and a range of work practices.
He warned that if improved conditions are not offered by the DAA in the coming weeks, the 380 ASU staff members would be balloted about possible industrial action. Last night, a spokesman for the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), Vincent Wall, said that the scanner equipment necessary for implementing the new system was now in place and that security staff were expected to begin scanning the Ryanair e-boarding cards from today.
Some 250-security staff yesterday voted to accept the LRC's recommendations, which noted that failure to co-operate with the new technological changes at Dublin airport was in breach of the Sustaining Progress provisions in regard to "co-operation with ongoing change".
Previously, security staff had voted to reject proposals from the DAA which were offered in an effort to encourage staff to co-operate with the new online system. Last night Mr Wall said that the authority would engage in discussions with the ASU to agree terms and conditions as required by the LRC. He would not, however, comment on whether any of the original proposals would be reintroduced.