Not much hope for EI given this carry-on....
Airline to suspend staff in dispute
By Laura Noonan, Irish Independent
Monday May 28 2007
AER Lingus has threatened to immediately suspend the 350 baggage loaders who are refusing to work at the airline's new check-in area in the basement at Dublin Airport.
The national carrier should have started using the new €15m check-in area last Tuesday, but almost a week later Area 14 still lies empty as baggage handlers refuse to move downstairs.
Last week, Aer Lingus management refused the baggage handlers' requests for payoffs of €1,000 and promotions in return for the move.
Now the airline's chief executive Dermot Mannion has told the workers to begin using the new check-in area this morning or face immediate suspension without pay.
In a letter delivered to baggage workers' homes on Saturday night, Mr Mannion said that he wanted to "remind all relevant employees that co-operating with an assignment to a location appropriate to an employee's work is an integral part of all Aer Lingus contracts of employment.
"It is important that all employees understand that if they fail to carry out their full range of duties in the location that they have been assigned to, for whatever reason, they will be suspended from the payroll with immediate effect."
SIPTU's Noel Maguire, who represents the workers involved, said his members would not take up their posts this morning.
"We have written to the company and we hope to meet them, but no, we won't be working there in the morning," he said last night.
The dispute initially centred on workers' health and safety concerns. However, the basement area has been re-examined by the Health and Safety Authority and Mr Maguire agreed that there were no outstanding health and safety issues.
"What we're talking about now is a diminution of our conditions of work," he said.
Aer Lingus commercial director Enda Corneille said that the workers had lodged a pay claim for €1,000 plus promotions in return for moving to the basement.
"This is typical of what happened in the past and the company gave in," he said. "But there's no way we can entertain a pay claim like that now when we're trying to cut costs."
Mr Maguire denied that the pay claim had been formally lodged. "That was just something that was tossed about at a meeting," he said.
- Laura Noonan