The union in dispute with lift company Otis is planning to escalate its ongoing action with further pickets at different sites across Dublin over the coming days.
The row centres on the firm’s decision to make 17 lift engineers redundant last month.
The Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) staged protests at Terminal Two in Dublin airport on Monday. Construction stopped at the terminal when about 500 workers refused to pass the picket.
The union also placed pickets yesterday outside various properties in Dublin, including the Criminal Courts complex, Dundrum Shopping Centre and the Jervis Street Shopping Centre, and the Otis office in Cork.
The Otis headquarters in Dublin and the Jervis Shopping Centre were picketed today.
TEEU assistant general secretary Arthur Hall said no progress had been made in talks with Otis earlier this week and the strikes are set to continue.
The union is planning a protest on the roundabout at Dublin airport tomorrow morning. It will also stage afternoon protests at the Criminal Courts complex on Parkgate Street and the Jervis Shopping Centre.
He claimed Otis is refusing to implement a Labour Court recommendation with regards to voluntary redundancies.
He said the recommendation advises companies to introduce voluntary redundancies in the first instance and seek compulsory redundancies on a “last in first out” basis.
“Otis, in its wisdom, has refused to do what their competitors have done and implement the voluntary redundancy scheme in the first instance," Mr Hall said. “They [TEEU members] don’t want to be taking industrial action but they feel they have been left with no choice.”
In a statement, Otis insisted it has accepted the Labour Court recommendation and is acting in compliance with it. The company said it was forced to make the redundancies because of the the current economic climate.