“Airport Chaos is culmination of utter contempt management have shown for workers and customers” says Brid Smith TD
Responding to the chaos at Dublin airport where one thousand people missed their flights last weekend People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith has called for the dismissal of senior managers at the company.
She said today “Dublin Airport Authority let go 248 staff through a voluntary redundancy scheme. They then tried to hire new workers for €14 an hour. But the workers were only guaranteed 20 hours work and a further 20 hours were ’flexible’. What sort of a crazy management team could come up with that scheme? Obviously ,one that had no idea what it is like to live on €14 an hour in Dublin on a precarious contract.”
She also pointed out that this treatment of its frontline workers was in stark contrast to the condition and pay of its senior management team, saying “The chair of the Board of Management of the DAA, is a partner in a US investment bank and a former director of Goldman Sachs, The departing CEO had, in 2020, a basic salary of €216,724. After pension contributions, he earned €366,270 that year. Yet he thought that a worker could be hired on €14 an hour”.
“They should sacked and replaced with workers representatives who know how an airport works. These at least would never dream on running airport security on low pay.”
The TD also urged the Government to immediately insist that the rates of pay and contracts for airport security are restored to pre Covid standards to help with the recruitment and retention of staff.
