Waterford Airport 'surprised and disappointed' by decision to take industrial action

July 13th 2016

Waterford Airport is surprised and disappointed at the announcement by Unite that the union’s members working at the Airport are to take industrial action in the form of placement of pickets and a full withdrawal of labour from Wednesday, July 20 next.

The Airport’s revenues have fallen sharply since VLM Airlines discontinued scheduled passenger services on the Waterford-London Luton route on June 7 last. The withdrawal of this route has led to a very significantly loss of work available at the Airport.

The Airport has continued over the last number of weeks to engage with employees and their representatives as part of a number of cost-cutting measures including short-time working on an interim basis, which commenced at the start of this week.

These necessary measures have been put in place based on current business and regulatory needs, whilst at the same time protecting the employment of all staff that remain at the Airport. The majority of staff understand and support the Airport’s decisions in these matters.

 

In the meantime, the Airport continues to search for a new airline to provide passenger services to/from Waterford, and deliver vital regional connectivity for business, tourism and leisure passengers that include families, relatives and friends.