Aer Lingus passengers face serious disruption to schedules following the breakdown of last night's talks to avert next Wednesday's strike.
In contrast to its decision to ground the entire Aer Lingus fleet during the 24-hour strike by IMPACT cabin crew last October, the company is expected to try to provide a limited service on core routes from Dublin to London Heathrow, Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris. Details will be published later today.
Ten hours of talks broke down at the Labour Court shortly before midnight. The court's chairman, Mr Finbarr Flood, said: "We tried out best to find a solution, but the gap between the two sides proved too big. We remain available . . . to help resolve the dispute."
However, it would require a major concession by the company, or by IMPACT, to make further talks possible, and neither had moved significantly yesterday.
The company offered to implement last month's Labour Court recommendation in full and to set up a joint working group to report back within six to nine months on the outstanding issues in the dispute. But the company had already indicated that it would accept the recommendation before yesterday's talks began.
The assistant general secretary of IMPACT, Ms Christina Carney, said: "The Labour Court recommendation was rejected by 98 per cent of the members and at this stage it would take a lot more than a proposal to implement the recommendation in full to prevent industrial action."
She said that the working group deadline was too long and, in the meantime, a two-tier system for existing staff and new workers would become "institutionalised" within the company.
SIPTU cabin crew are currently voting for strike action. The result is due on Friday but is already a foregone conclusion. Last week 90 per cent of them rejected the Labour Court recommendation.
Meanwhile, British Midland shop stewards are meeting today to review progress in their dispute at Dublin Airport. About 150 ground staff with the airline are holding a 48-hour stoppage because of their dissatisfaction with severance terms. The stoppage began yesterday and concludes tonight.
The company said that the industrial action did not delay flights, as extra staff were brought in from British and European locations to provide check-in, baggage-handling and other services.
In an escalation of the dispute, the company withdrew its latest severance package from Irish staff. The package, which provides for £1,019 per year of service to staff transferring to the new ground-handling company, Gatwick Haulage International, also guarantees existing pay and working conditions for five years. British Midland's 1,600 ground-handling staff in Britain have accepted the offer and the company is concerned that any further concessions to Irish employees could lead to knock-on claims elsewhere.