An attempt by Aer Rianta to have a new mediator appointed to try to avert next Thursday's threatened airports strike was rejected yesterday by the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan.
The move by the Aer Rianta board to engage industrial relations consultant Mr Phil Flynn also angered the Labour Relations Commission, which is already providing a mediator to help resolve the issues at stake.
In a separate development, Ryanair said it had begun a High Court action against the union involved, SIPTU, aimed at preventing the strike from going ahead. The case is to be heard on Tuesday. The six-hour strike, starting at 7.30 a.m. on the day after St Patrick's Day, would close Dublin, Shannon and Cork airports. SIPTU says the action is aimed at an EU presidency meeting, to be attended by OECD education ministers in Dublin.
However, an estimated 25,000 intending passengers are due to fly to or from the airports during the time planned for the stoppage. The number affected could be higher if there are knock-on delays. SIPTU says the action is in protest at the lack of progress in talks with the Department of Transport on the future of Aer Rianta.
Those talks are being chaired by Mr Tom Pomphrett of the Labour Relations Commission. Discussions temporarily stopped recently to give the Department time to prepare financial information for the unions supporting the decision to break up of Aer Rianta into separate management entities for the three airports.
The two sides were to meet again after the unions had considered this information.
Yesterday, the Aer Rianta chairman, Mr Noel Hanlon, wrote to Mr Brennan, to say that Mr Phil Flynn had agreed to make himself available as a facilitator. However, the Minister replied stating he was committed to the ongoing process being chaired by Mr Pomphrett. The involvement of another third-party mediator could only undermine that process, he said. The Labour Relations Commission also reacted swiftly to the proposal. Mr Pomphrett, it said in a statement, had been appointed at the request of the Department, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the unions directly involved.
