Aer Lingus proposals too late to avert strike, union says

The planned strike by cabin crew at Aer Lingus scheduled for Friday is to go ahead.

The trade union Impact, which represents cabin crew at the airline, said to night that proposals by management at Aer Lingus for talks on rosters , the issue at the heart of the dispute, came too late to avert the stoppage.

It signalled it would engage in a proposed new talks process in a bid to reach a lasting solution to the row over rosters. However it said that talks aimed at resolving the issue needed to demonstrate that the employer was serious about solving ongoing roster problems.

Well-placed sources suggested that the proposed new talks were unlikely to take place until next week.

Aer Lingus has cancelled most of its planned flights for Friday on foot of the industrial action by cabin crew which could affect nearly 30,000 people.

Today the airline warned cabin crew that the introduction of roster arrangements along the lines they were seeking could force it to move the bases for its transatlantic fleet to the US, with the loss of more than 300 jobs in Ireland. At the same time it invited Impact to talks aimed at addressing "genuine issues" over rosters.

Impact said today that it would accept the invitation to talks without prejudice.

Tonight Impact official Michael Landers said the union was available at any time to talk about the issue. "We extended that offer on many occasions previously, and stated it again in our strike notice on May 13th. The invitation came too late to prevent this action from going ahead, but we would hope that this would mark the beginning of a process that would see this issue resolved once and for all."

He said there was a considerable lack of trust among cabin crew who questioned senior management’s willingness to address this problem.

“ An invitation to talks, on its own, simply isn’t enough to convince our cabin crew members.”

He said every cabin crew member believed the industrial action could have been avoided if the company had listened to what they were saying about their rosters.

Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar told the Dáil that the dispute should be resolved bilaterally in talks between the unions and management.

"I now understand that talks are due to happen soon. I see no reason that the strike should not be called off. If for some reason the parties cannot agree bilaterally, they should go to the Labour Relations Commission. I call on Aer Lingus to make use of the Labour Relations Commission."