Staff at troubled FLS Aerospace have instigated an unofficial overtime ban in response to the company's refusal to implement the latest rise under the national pay agreement. Dominic Coyle reports.

The company is pleading inability to pay the 3 per cent due last month under the first stage of Sustaining Progress.

It has offered to enter into "meaningful negotiations" with unions on the issue, but not while a separate 30 per cent pay claim from craft unions at the company remains in place.

Staff are angry that the company is refusing to sanction the pay increase at its Dublin operations while paying a similar increase at its British units.

A spokeswoman for the company said the Irish and British operations were totally separate and pointed out that the British workforce had conceded on productivity issues in return for the pay rise.

"We are not making a profit in Dublin," she said. "The environment in the aircraft maintenance sector is highly competitive and we are facing challenges from elsewhere."

It is thought there are up to 16 companies chasing business in the sector in Europe.

"We need to get improved productivity and savings in order to compete," the FLS spokeswoman said. "The employees in Manchester and Stansted have not had a pay rise since January 2002, whereas the Irish workforce has received between 2.5 and 3 per cent this year already in increments. The English workforce does not get increments."

The company said it had offered to defer the pay rise to January 2004 and agree before then where savings might be made. But such talks would have to be meaningful and the company is not prepared to negotiate with a 30 per cent claim hanging over its head.

The craft unions' claim is currently with the Labour Relations Commission.

The confrontation comes at a bad time for FLS, which is trying to sell off the aerospace unit, which employs 1,500 people in Dublin. The Danish company, which has stated that aerospace is not a core operation, is understood to be in talks with Swiss-based SR Technics, formerly a part of Swiss Air.

The FLS spokeswoman denied claims by staff that the unofficial overtime ban was having any impact on work at the north Dublin plant. "However, we will do whatever is necessary to minimise any disruption," she said.

"Any industrial relations dispute would be counterproductive at this stage," she added. "We are out there looking for investment options to help everyone at FLS Aerospace."