Strike threat doesn't have official sanction

Union Siptu's president Jack O'Connor has been forced to release a statement to the effect that an 8 hour strike at the country's three state airports planned for April 2 has not been sanctioned by the union. The statement came after the Dublin airport branch of the union served strike notice on the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) even though the threat of a national strike was lifted yesterday.

The national strike had been threatened as a result of the refusal of some employers to pay national wage agreement increases agreed last autumn. It had been agreed employers who had either paid the increase or who were willing to negotiate with the unions would remain unaffected by the strike. Siptu workers at Dublin had claimed that the DAA had refused to pay increments due whereas the DAA said that it had paused the payment of increments pending the outcome of a cost improvement program. The DAA further stated that it was willing to enter negotiations on the increments concerned, calling on Siptu to call off the strike and enter talks at the Labour Relations Commission. Siptu said this evening that it had received the request and would consider the invitation on Monday.