Airline seeks talks to avert dispute

Aer Lingus management last night invited the trade union Siptu to last ditch talks in an attempt to avert possible industrial action at the airline next week. Martin Wall , Industry Correspondent, reports

Aer Lingus said the talks, which will not be held at the airport, represented the final opportunity to resolve outstanding issues over the introduction of proposed work practice changes.

The invitation to talks came came hours after Siptu warned there will be a full-blown dispute from next Tuesday if management at the airline proceeds with plans to unilaterally introduce new work practices next week.

Up to 20,000 Aer Lingus passengers could be affected each day if the dispute goes ahead.

The union said last night that it would "react" if management suspended staff who refused to operate the proposed new working arrangements. It said that the nature and duration of this reaction would be decided on Sunday. The union also warned that any dispute would be "long and bitter".

Siptu national industrial secretary Gerry McCormack said it expected that if management went ahead with its plans there would be full-blown dispute by Tuesday.

However, the National Implementation Body - the main troubleshooting mechanism under social partnership - may seek to intervene. Highly placed sources said it was extremely unlikely that the implementation body, which invested significant time and effort before Christmas in seeking to put in place deal between the parties, would allow a damaging dispute to go ahead without making one last effort to resolve the row.

The body could propose asking the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) to meet with the parties. 

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times