Union may hold ballot at Aer Lingus

Cabin crew at Aer Lingus are to consider balloting on industrial action in response to a controversial pay freeze put in place by the company until a controversial €20 million cost-cutting plan is implemented.

The trade union Impact, which represents cabin crew at the airline, said yesterday that a ballot on industrial action would be considered at a series of general meetings to be take place in Dublin, Cork and Shannon starting next week.

Members at the meeting will also be briefed on the move by Impact to seek the intervention of the National Implementation Body (NIB) - the main trouble-shooting mechanism under the social partnership process - in the dispute over the pay freeze.

A spokesman for Impact said the meetings would also discuss the implications of a new Labour Court recommendation issued yesterday on the cost-cutting and productivity changes being sought by the airline.

Impact said the new recommendation on issues such as changes to arrangements for rosters, early starts and days off for cabin crew represented a "step forward".

Labour Court chairman Kevin Duffy said he was convinced that the changes to work practices sought by Aer Lingus were necessary to secure the future viability of the airline in the changed competitive and market conditions in which it had to operate.

However, he said that change was best achieved incrementally and he set out a process to implement change for cabin crew which could run until next June. He said outstanding issues could be referred back to the court.

The new Labour Court recommendation is supplemental to one issued last March.

A number of outstanding issues relating to cabin crew such as rolling rosters, days off after long-haul flights and stop-overs had been referred back to the court in August following the original recommendation.