Staff in Dublin and Cork airports, who are represented by Siptu, are to seek pay increases of 18 per cent over three years.
In correspondence sent to the airport operator, DAA, in recent days, Siptu sought rises of 6 per cent from January 2016, 6 per cent from January of 2017 and 6 per cent from January of 2018.
The union suggested that these increases should not involve any additional productivity concessions by staff.
In addition, the union also proposed a “second stage process”, where the relevant sections of the workforce could engage with management “on a section-by-section basis on any additional productivity in exchange for further increases in basic pay and terms and conditions”.
Pay increases of 6 per cent per year would be considerably higher than those secured by staff at Luas or Dublin Bus last year after landmark disputes.
Workers in these transport companies received increases of just under 4 per cent annually.
Staff in the public service will secure increases on average of about 6.6 per cent over three years if a draft new agreement with the Government is ratified by trade unions in the weeks and months ahead.
Siptu contended that given the DAA generated profits of €108 million in 2016 and €61 million in 2015 the new pay claim for its members at the company was “within the financial capability” of the airport operator.
Level of profitability
The union argued that the level of profitability recorded at the DAA had been brought about by the continued savings generated by the provisions and terms and conditions in a cost recovery plan (CRP) agreed back in 2010 and the “commitment and diligent hard work” of workers.
Siptu also maintained that the CRP provided for a means to recognise staff contribution to improving profitability. This, it argued “must recognise the actual levels of profitability... by the company and must recognise the level of profitability in the years since the CRP agreement”.
A spokesman for the DAA declined to comment on the pay claim submitted by Siptu. The union also did not comment on the pay claim on Thursday.
Earlier this year almost 70 per cent of Siptu’s members in DAA voted to reject the company’s “Better Together” proposal that offered 3 per cent to 4 per cent pay rises in return for increased productivity.
While members of other unions, Impact and Mandate at the airport operator, backed the proposed deal, rejection by Siptu means that it was effectively off the table.
The DAA required the acceptance of the three unions, as they represented most of the 2,700 workers in the airports that it runs in Dublin and Cork.
