WEARY Aer Lingus cabin crews stepped from the New York and Chicago Airbus 330 jets at Shannon Airport yesterday and rolled their small luggage carriers to the rest room beside the tarmac.
They were joined by off duty members and were told their committee had decided on a work to rule policy to begin after midnight on Tuesday.
It is the latest move in a dispute with the company over transatlantic staffing levels.
About 60 of the 160 cabin crew staff based at Shannon, the transatlantic headquarters, attended the meeting, which was addressed by Mr Des Hughes, a SIPTU official.
Mr Hughes told The Irish Times that as part of the work to rule, cabin crew, during flights, will take their full, agreed rest periods. The complete rest time will be observed between flights, when no other duties will be carried out.
A meeting will be held on Monday evening, he said, to "fine tune the work to rule" and to notify all his union members of the details.
Mr Hughes said part of the Cahill plan agreement to save the airline, which resulted in the loss of 1,500 jobs, was the placing of 11 Aer Lingus cabin crew on each Airbus on transatlantic routes, "but these jobs are now threatened."
A meeting was scheduled for last night between the union and company officials to outline the latest position.