Today's threatened two-hour stoppage at Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports was called off yesterday by SIPTU after three days of deliberation.
Assurances provided by the Government about the future pay and conditions and job security of Aer Rianta staff persuaded the union to call off the action and enter new talks.
However, SIPTU president Mr Jack O'Connor said the union remained "deeply sceptical" about the extent to which those assurances could be sustained in the context of the planned Aer Rianta break-up.
The Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, plans to replace the company with separate management structures for the three airports. Unions claim it makes no financial sense to break up a successful State company, and that the job security of members is under threat.
The two-hour stoppage SIPTU had planned was intended to disrupt flights carrying EU justice ministers and officials to a meeting in Dublin today.
The decision to call off the action was taken yesterday after 15 hours of talks which begun on Monday and were attended by Mr O'Connor and the union's Aer Rianta representatives.
In a statement, the SIPTU president said the assurances from Government about job security and quality of employment had been "thoroughly considered".
He outlined a number of factors in the union's decision to suspend the action.
These included the Government's commitment to provide key financial information to the unions, and its promise not to finalise legislation providing for the break-up until after talks had been concluded.
However, Mr O'Connor said unions had previously deferred action on November 4th to enter into talks which had turned out to be "fruitless".
"We must emphasise our determination to defend our members' right to take industrial action when necessary if what ensues after today fails to deliver tangible results within a reasonable time-frame."
Mr Brennan said last night he would agree with Mr O'Connor that a new set of talks should be conducted within "a definite time-frame".
Welcoming the decision to call off the strike, he said it was time to remind people that the policy Government were pursuing was about generating growth at the airports and creating jobs.
