TALKS AIMED at averting a shutdown of the State's main airports on Thursday will take place at the Labour Court today.
Air traffic controllers, members of the trade union Impact, plan a 24-hour strike in protest against what they claim is a shortage of staff. They also intend to impose an overtime ban from tomorrow.
However, the Irish Aviation Authority yesterday denied the claim and insisted there was no shortage of staff. The authority said Impact should be "clear and honest about the real issues at the Labour Court and stop 'fogging' their payment demands with made up staff shortages".
Impact, in its submission to the Labour Court, says the row centres on serious staff shortages and the problem is likely to get worse in the years ahead. The union proposes a comprehensive recruitment programme but accepts it could take up to two years to bring the numbers of air traffic controllers up to adequate levels.
In the meantime, it calls for the introduction of a structured standby/call-in overtime scheme. Under the union proposals, air traffic controllers would be rostered voluntarily for overtime on 12 days per year with a requirement to be called in on any six occasions. Staff would be paid two-thirds of normal pay while on standby for overtime. Staff called in on overtime would be paid double time.
However the authority said that in the current negotiations on an alternate on-call/extra attendance arrangement at the Labour Relations Commission, air traffic controllers were demanding an €11,000 payment for being on-call for 12 days per annum with an obligation to work only six.
It said that this worked out at €1,833 per attendance and an additional €125 per hour for any attendance over and above that level.
Impact says air traffic is expected to increase by 26 per cent by 2011 while around 100 controllers will reach retirement age over the coming five years.
The union said that heavy reliance on overtime should not form part of the long-term solution, although it acknowledged that unsatisfactory dependence on overtime would be required in the short term.
Both the authority and Impact are to attend the Labour Court today in a bid to avert a serious escalation of the row between the parties in the week ahead.
Impact is set to introduce an official overtime ban from Tuesday in a move which could cause disruption to flights while a one-day strike is scheduled for Thursday which could ground all flights into and out of the country.
Passengers at Dublin Airport yesterday experienced flight delays of up to 90 minutes due to a shortage of air traffic controllers. The authority said the delays were because of "unusually high levels of illness" among controllers. But Impact denied this claim.
