The dispute involving Aer Lingus and cabin crew staff over rostering has now been resolved following a final arbitration finding by the Labour Relations Commission (LRC).
The company and the trade union Impact, which represents cabin crew, had reached an agreement on Friday to bring the dispute to an end following lengthy talks at the commission. LRC chief executive Kieran Mulvey issued a final and binding arbitration tonight.
Impact welcomed the arbitration finding and said the dispute was now resolved. In a statement, the union said the "anti-family measures" imposed by management last month had now been removed from new cabin crew rosters.
According to Impact, Aer Lingus management would not be able to impose "unacceptable changes" in future because an "industrial peace" commitment obliges both sides to agree future changes or resolve them through arbitration.
Impact official Christina Caney said the deal had been received "very positively" at mass meetings of cabin crew in Dublin, Shannon and Cork over the last few days.
“This means that cabin crew are again able to plan their family responsibilities while carrying out a demanding career to the highest possible standards. It is the negotiated and arbitrated settlement that Impact always said was possible and cabin crew are happy that they have stood together and achieved a good outcome," she said.
The carrier's dispute with its cabin crew and subsequent flight cancellations resulted in about 22,000 passengers who had booked to fly in January not being carried by the airline.
Aer Lingus had 552,000 “booked” passengers in January, a year-on-year decline of 17 per cent.