A PICKET on the Terminal Two construction site at Dublin airport will have “major financial implications” and could delay the opening of the terminal, the Dublin Airport Authority has said.
The Technical Engineering and Electrical Union has placed a picket on the airport site in its dispute with lift company Otis over the firm’s decision to make 17 lift engineers redundant last month. Some 65 of its engineers and a further 15 engineers at Otis’s sister company Irish Lift Services yesterday set up pickets at the airport and at the company’s offices in Dublin and Cork.
Work stopped at Terminal Two yesterday when about 500 workers refused to pass the picket. A spokesman for the authority said it was not a party to the dispute but the site appeared to have been targeted because it was a high-profile construction project.
“Any time lost due to this dispute will have a direct impact on the DAA’s testing and trialling of the systems within Terminal Two, and is also likely to have an effect on the opening date of the new terminal in November,”said the DAA.
TEEU assistant general secretary Arthur Hall said the picket on the terminal would continue until the dispute was resolved.
The terminal was the only facility serviced by Otis workers picketed yesterday. However, Mr Hall said workers would today also picket the Jervis Street shopping centre and may picket the new Criminal Courts complex at Park Gate Street in Dublin.
Workers did not respond to breakdowns of 60 lifts and escalators operated by Otis yesterday.
Mr Hall said the company was ignoring a Labour Court recommendation from May 21st that voluntary redundancies should be sought before any compulsory redundancies were implemented.
The strike was to begin at the start of this month, but it was suspended as the company indicated it wished to reach an amicable settlement.
Both sides met on three times last week, but union representatives reported no progress.
Otis did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.
