MANDATE TRADE UNION have withdrawn from Friday’s strikes action at the Dublin Airport Authority.

Speaking to TheJournal.ie, General Secretary and ICTU President John Douglas said that the union had received an invitation last Friday to attend talks with the expert panel who have been established to consider the issues with the pension scheme.

Strike action

Douglas said, “we have decided to defer the strike action until we know the outcome of the meeting”. He added that SIPTU, who have already met with the panel, did not change their opinion, but that Mandate would “wait and see” what comes of the talks on Friday.

Last week, the Department of Transport has set up a four-person expert panel earlier to see if a resolution of the issue can be secured.

Mandate represent workers work in the retail sector of the airport.

Last week, DAA and Ryanair announced that they would go to the High Court to seek an injunction against the strike action that is due to take place over the busy St Patrick’s Day bank holiday weekend.

DAA said the industrial action is contrary to the provisions of the Industrial Relations Act.

That application is due to be heard in the High Court tomorrow morning before noon.

Employees and management have been at loggerheads over a long-running dispute over a €700 million deficit in the workers’ pension fund.

Related: DAA and Ryanair launch court action to stop strike at Irish airports>

Read: Union agrees to co-operate with Aer Lingus pensions investigation>