Aer Lingus and unions in talks

Aer Lingus and unions representing the airline’s employees are continuing talks in the Labour Relations Commission in an effort to prevent industrial action in the run-up to the Christmas period.
Strike notice has already been served by SIPTU and is scheduled to being on 24 November.  However, the union this week brought alternative proposals to the plans proposed by management to out-source many of their ground-staff positions.
SIPTU has not yet made these proposals public and has indicated it is presenting an alternative to reducing the 1,300 staff that Aer Lingus is looking for through out-sourcing, redundancy and early retirement schemes.
The Labour Relations Commission is also due to brief the National Implementation Body on progress made during the talks this week. Management of Aer Lingus has said it is “willing to listen” to alternative proposals but must achieve €50m in staff cost savings and also “address work practices and pay inflation”.

Job cuts at carpet manufacturer

PORTADOWN carpet factory Ulster Carpets has announced 35 job cuts at the factory which management said was a result of the “global economic downturn”.
A representative from the Unite trade union, which many of the employees are members of, said that the announcement had been unexpected and described the cutbacks as a “devastating blow” to the employees.
“It comes as quite a shock, bearing in mind announcements Ulster Carpets had made a number of months ago about savings that were made in energy  – up to three quarters of a million pounds – and also a £15m investment package.”
The company is now negotiating with the union on redundancy packages.

Taxi unions warns of illegal cabs

THE National Taxi Drivers’ Union (NTDU) has warned that there are a number of drivers operating illegally without licences throughout Dublin and elsewhere in the state.
Tommy Gorman, NTDU general secretary, said that many of the illegal drivers are operating using licences issued to someone else even though they have no entitlement to drive the cars themselves. There is now such a high level of them, he said, that legitimate taxis are being forced out of business.
Gorman called on the Taxi Regulator to issue a moratorium on issuing licences until the problem of illegal taxis has been sorted out.
He also called on the Department of Social and Family Affairs to tighten guidelines in relation to drivers who work for a small number of hours and sign on for the rest of the time and, he says, are driving many more hours in reality.