Management at Shannon airport has written to more than 500 workers informing them that it plans to focus on direct cost-cutting measures in an attempt to stem losses at the airport.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions yesterday wrote to the Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, requesting an urgent meeting to discuss the situation.
Management did not specify precisely what measures would be taken but employees have been informed that the cost cutting will focus on recruitment, overtime, temporary contracts and redeployment.
Workers, who are represented by Siptu and Impact, have also been told that the generous €35 million restructuring plan for Shannon, which they rejected in January, has been withdrawn. The restructuring plan was aimed at introducing savings of €10 million annually at the airport and would have led to about 200 voluntary redundancies.
The package offered up to 10 weeks' pay per year of service, extra incentives for over-60s and a €10,000 payment for staff remaining with the company.
The letter, signed by Pat Shanahan, executive chairman at Shannon airport, said it considered the latest talks under the auspices of the Labour Relations Commission to have concluded.
The LRC recently recommended that high-level talks between the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), which still has responsibility for Shannon, and trade union groups, should take place.
A spokesman for the DAA, however, ruled this out. "We believe there is very little value in re-entering the process unless it is very clear that there would be an agreed and imminent outcome," he said.
The dispute between management and workers at Shannon has been ongoing for 18 months. Talks have been held under the auspices of the National Implementation Body, the Labour Court and the LRC.
Shannon last year handled about 3.6 million passengers, a 10 per cent increase on 2005. Much of this traffic, however, relates to military flights carrying soldiers to and from the US. The number of these flights is now declining.
When the military flights are stripped out, Shannon is believed to be losing about €500,000 a month. Its costs per passenger are said to be twice those of Dublin airport and about 75 per cent higher than Cork.
