Airport security staff reject ‘forced use’ of electronic payslips and email
DUBLIN Airport security workers have written a joint letter to DAA chief executive Dalton Philips to express their “discontent”, after they say the company withdrew paper payslips.
The security workers also complained that the company had changed their annual leave year without consultation, claiming that the moves by the group came despite their rejection of industrial relations proposals.
“We, the undersigned, wish to register our discontent with the unilateral action being taken by the company in relation to changing long-standing arrangements,” said a letter addressed directly to Philips and written on Siptu-headed notepaper.
The letter is signed mainly by a group of up to 200 staff from the airport search unit, who operate the security areas in the terminals, and vehicle control point staff, who staff the various security access points around the airport perimeter.
The letter from the workers said that moves by the company to implement proposals that they claim had already been rejected by staff “show a complete lack of respect to our democratic vote and to us as workers in DAA”.
The letter said that despite staff voting in large numbers to reject the proposals, “the company is proceeding to implement clauses contained in the agreement”.
It added: “This takes the form of withdrawing our paper payslips, forced use of DAA email and a unilateral change to our annual leave year.”
“We are now asking the question, where will this end?” the letter continued.
The staff demanded that the CEO meet with “our representatives” within seven days “to resolve the issues and demonstrate respect to us as a group of workers and our long-standing collective agreement”.
The row stems from staff demands for a profit-share scheme. The company has refused to bring in such a scheme but has offered staff a 1pc pay rise and a €300 voucher instead, as part of a wider agreement.
This agreement was rejected by a portion of staff last summer and the company said that it would take some time to consider its next steps.
A DAA spokesman said: “Like many companies, DAA has moved from paper payslips to electronic payslips. An electronic payslip that is password-protected is more secure, offers better privacy protection from a GDPR perspective and is more environmentally friendly than paper.
“Staff access their electronic payslip via their company email address.”