The threat of strike action Aer Lingus is looming again over a dispute which came close grounding the airline's entire fleet late last year.
Siptu shop stewards, representing around 1,800 workers at the airline, meet to tomorrow to decide on a response to a cost-cutting plan due to be implemented on Monday without agreement.
Results of a ballot on industrial action including strike are due on Sunday. Members are expected to vote in favour having already overwhelmingly supported the same proposal in a ballot last February. A second vote was taken to avoid any legal difficulties, the union said.
Siptu branch organiser Teresa Hannick warned that if management refuses to engage in the talks process agreed before the National Implementation Body (NIB) last December then it must "accept responsibility for the consequences".
"The company failed to respond to union requests for meetings until January 24 th, when the management team presented its proposals in what amounts to an ultimatum," Ms Hannick said.
She said the union has now received a letter from management saying further talks served no purpose and that the "Flexibility and Mobility" plan to cut €10 million in costs would take effect from Monday.
Management had also raised new issues which had not been before the NIB, she said. "It is effectively trying to rewrite what was agreed and threatening union members to "accept this, or else. This is not acceptable industrial relations practice."
Ms Hannick said the union remained available for talks and urged management to attend talks before the Labour Relations Commission.
A spokesperson from Aer Lingus failed to respond to contact from ireland.comtoday but the company has previously said it must cut €20 million in costs to remain competitive.
The NIB talks led to an agreement that would effectively see Siptu members account for €10 million in savings while a further €10 million in savings would be sought in a process involving other workers including pilots, cabin crew and craft workers.
Last month the craft group of unions withdrew from discussions saying they were a "charade".
Today's developments are a resumption of the bitter dispute which erupted last November after Aer Lingus chief executive Dermot Mannion to 1,800 Siptu members threatening suspension if they engaged in the industrial action.
The letter came after Siptu threatened industrial action over the plan to introduce its cost-cutting plan, Programme for Continuous Improvement.