UNIONS AND management at the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) are to meet again next week to consider proposals by the company for up to 400 voluntary job losses and other cost-containment measures aimed at saving €55 million.
In a letter to its 3,700 staff yesterday, DAA chief executive Declan Collier also proposed a pay freeze, new career break arrangements and reduced hours for certain staff.
The company is also seeking the introduction of new terms and conditions for employees. Under the proposal, staffing numbers would be reduced through a combination of a voluntary severance scheme and the non-renewal of contract positions.
Mr Collier said that the future viability of the company was at stake and that both expenditure and costs had to be cut.
He said that if nothing was done the company would have insufficient money to run the business.
“If we do not act now, we will be forced to introduce severe pay cuts and the impact on overall employment levels will be even greater,” he said.
The company has forecast that passenger numbers will fall this year by about 11 per cent. Under this projection about 3.3 million fewer passengers would use the three airports at Dublin, Cork and Shannon operated by the company.
As part of plans to cut spending levels, the DAA is to reduce expenditure on the next phase of its investment programme by 50 per cent. It has decided the planned new runway at Dublin airport would be developed when required by the volume of traffic.
It is also seeking to make substantial savings in its non-pay bill by means of a renegotiation of all third-party costs.
The company is seeking to reach agreement with the unions on a cost-containment programme within the next two months.
Trade unions said yesterday that their priority in the talks with the company would be on saving jobs, and that pay cuts were not on the agenda.
Michael Landers, assistant general secretary of the trade union Impact, indicated that the union would be totally opposed to cuts in pay. He said that a position had not been reached at the company where pay cuts were necessary.
Linda Tanham, the assistant general secretary of Mandate, said the priority was job protection. However, she warned that she could not see any agreement being reached if the agenda of the company was to railroad through changes in terms and conditions for staff.
Fine Gael Dublin North TD James Reilly said 400 job losses at the DAA would devastate the area. He also said the redundancies confirmed that the “tourist tax” introduced by the Government was an “idiotic idea”.
Labour spokesperson on transport Tommy Broughan said that plans by the DAA to achieve savings through redundancies and pay cuts would be devastating for communities in the area.
“While the DAA signalled some months ago that they would be looking for redundancies, today’s announcement that 400 jobs are to go still comes as a major shock,” he said.
