Talks to try to avert a series of strikes at Aer Lingus begin this morning. A major step towards averting disruption to services has been the resolution of a long-running dispute between IMPACT and SIPTU over who should represent the company's 1,644 cabin crew.
IMPACT has already balloted 1,400 cabin crew for strike action next Tuesday. It now seems likely this will be deferred following the recommendation of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions disputes committee that both unions be allowed to represent cabin crew.
However, caterers are threatening a one-day strike tomorrow and baggage-handlers are threatening disruptive action from Saturday. So far, the refusal of pilots to work unrostered hours has had little effect on services, but this could change if action by groups such as baggage-handlers leads to flight delays.
Neither SIPTU nor IMPACT was commenting on the findings of ICTU's disputes committee last night, which is being seen as an honourable draw. Both union executives are expected to accept the findings.
IMPACT was censured by congress for taking cabin crew into membership without the permission of SIPTU.
Nevertheless, the disputes committee recommends that IMPACT be allowed to retain the 1,026 members it had in full membership on September 29th when ICTU checked the membership status of all cabin crew.
All new cabin crew recruits will automatically go to SIPTU and will continue to do so for at least two years. After that, procedures can be reviewed by mutual agreement. Aer Lingus welcomed the findings of the disputes committee last night.
There could still be problems relating to the interpretation of ICTU's recommendation, but senior sources within SIPTU and IMPACT were at pains last night to emphasise that the priority was to make the new arrangements work effectively.