Dublin Airport Authority Staff Vote Yes to Survival Programme
Wednesday 3 February 2010Mandate Trade Union members in the Dublin Airport Authority have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a €40 million cost reduction programme. The workers voted by a majority of 92% in favour of the deal and 8% against.
The deal will see 275 permanent jobs and 100 temporary jobs go across the three airports run by the DAA. The severance package consists of 6.75 weeks’ pay per year of service.
Mandate says that the cost reduction programme contains some traditional methods of reducing expenditure along with some very innovative schemes including the Employee Recovery Investment Contribution Scheme. Under this investment scheme, money will be deducted from earnings based on the value of a DAA workers earnings, but when targets are met in the future, employees will get a 50% or a 100% payment to cover the monies they contributed to the scheme. The deductions will also be restored after the company has returned to a reasonable period of sustained profitability.
Some of the other key elements of the deal include:
· A pay freeze which will be put in place until mid 2011;
· Overtime rates are to be reduced;
· A €1m once off fund will be set aside and paid to participating staff if the agreed cost recovery target is met.
Linda Tanham, Assistant General Secretary of Mandate Trade Union said, “This deal has shown how responsible companies and trade unions can work together for the sustained progress of both the organisation and its employees.
“When the Dublin Airport Authority approached us and stated that they had issues with costs reductions, we willingly engaged with them in order to ensure a swift and effective solution to the issues the DAA were experiencing. This is how a responsible employer should do business in the current economic environment.
“We firstly established what savings were needed and we approached our members with this information. A huge amount of credit should be given to these workers who have voted for the temporary reduction in their incomes and terms and conditions in order that the future of the DAA is safeguarded. It shows that when proper consultation with workers and their representatives is meaningfully engaged in, Irish workers and trade unions will behave in a reasonable and responsible manner,” concluded Ms Tanham.
