"MANAGEMENT won the war in 1994, but since then they've been losing the peace," says TEAM Aer Lingus SIPTU branch secretary Mr Paul O'Sullivan. Now, for the first time in three years, the troubled aircraft maintenance company is facing the serious prospect of a strike.
Mr O'Sullivan calls the 1994 dispute a "war" because there was no strike in a technical sense. The unions were faced with an ultimatum to accept a rescue plan or the company would collapse.
SIPTU members feel sore because they accepted the need to make sacrifices ahead of the traditionally more militant craft workers who make up the bulk of the 1,540 strong workforce.
Now they feel they are being regarded as a soft touch by management. They say that they are the only group within the company which has not been granted a productivity bonus, although one was promised 21/2 years ago.
The concessions over the use of temporary workers are being exploited and commitments to up skill them have not been honoured, they say.
They are being paid an extra £13.84p a week for agreeing to be up skilled. This is part of a flexibility scheme that allows them to do some of the jobs traditionally performed by craft workers, while craft workers agree to do some tasks performed traditionally by general operatives.
However, they complain that retraining has not taken place. Employees sent on a course to break down an aircraft wheel were taken through fire safety procedures and no further. They were not even allowed to let the air out of the tyres.
The company blames resistance from craft workers. But SIPTU argues that the retraining of its members is part of the 1994 rescue package and is enshrined in the Labour Court recommendation that underpins it. TEAM has insisted that the unions observe other sections of the court recommendation but is not prepared to be bound by it itself.
Management says that everyone agreed to do things differently from 1994. A business process review was put in place to make the changes needed to return the company to viability.
The company has already offered to pay a 2.5 per cent increase due under the Programme for Competitiveness and Work "off the scale", as an indication of its bona fides. The unions want the increase "on the scale". By offering it off the scale TEAM makes considerable savings on fringe costs like pensions.
However there are at least eight issues dividing SIPTU's aircraft maintenance assistants (AMAs) and the company.
Shop stewards, once all powerful in TEAM, are now relegated to local issues. There are monthly meetings of the new workers' participation council with the chief executive, Mr Donnacha Hurley, and other senior managers to review progress.
Management sources say that substantial progress has been made and they seem stumped bye the strike threat. They believe that much of the unrest can be attributed to a few vocal shop stewards who are unreconciled to their loss of influence.
The 90 per cent vote among AMAs for industrial action would suggest that they have been indulging in wishful thinking. On their own the AMAs cannot significantly disrupt TEAM.
But SIPTU also represents stores personnel and, if these were to be brought out at a later stage, it could cause serious problems. That is why a strike is expected on March 13th which everyone hopes can be settled soon afterwards.