Aer Lingus is to cancel 35 flights involving 3,000 passengers tomorrow to cope with a four-hour stoppage by 1,200 clerical staff at the start of the Bank Holiday weekend.
This is a 50 per cent increase on the company's earlier estimate of the amount of disruption the dispute would cause and there are fears that many of the remaining 17,000 passengers could face delays of several hours.
The company is maintaining its full transatlantic service, though most of these flights are due to take off during the work stoppage - which will take place between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.. The midday flight from Dublin to New York is being brought forward to 9.30 a.m. and most other transatlantic flights are being rescheduled to the afternoon.
There will be "an almost full service" on routes to London, Heathrow and Gatwick, as well as major European destinations, according to the company. Flights within Ireland and to short-haul destinations such as Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Glasgow will face the severest cutbacks.
Passengers with reservations will be contacted by Aer Lingus but people intending to travel are also advised to phone the Aer Lingus helpline 1800 404000 or visit its website www.aerlingus.ie for detailed information.
Clerical staff, including checkins, boarding and reservations personnel are stopping work in pursuit of a long-standing pay claim.
Aer Lingus is offering increases worth more than 25 per cent at the bottom of the pay scale, but this still leaves a gap of about £1,000 a year between the company position and that of SIPTU.
Aer Lingus director of corporate affairs, Mr Dan Loughrey, said yesterday the latest offer would bring the starting rate with the company from £9,897 to £12,500 a year. He put the cost of the package at £4 million, of which £1 million has been added in talks since SIPTU members rejected a Labour Court recommendation.
Among the proposals put by the company are increases of £2,600 for new recruits and increases of between £1,350 and £1,500 for other staff; an extra £1,000 a year bonus for new staff having to work unsocial hours; a reduction in the incremental scale from 26 years to 18 and long-service increments of £500 each after 25 years' service, 30 years, 35 years and 37 years.
Howver, SIPTU negotiator Mr Morgan Nolan said the offer was only a marginal improvement on the Labour Court recommendation.
Over half the clerical staff had joined the company since 1994 and the reduction of the incremental scale to 18 years had little meaning for them, he said.
Rates had to reflect local labour market conditions in Dublin, Cork and Shannon if the company wanted to recruit and hold staff. "What is on offer, even at the top of the scale, will not allow members to buy a house in Dublin, or even a house in Cork or Shannon."