Aer Lingus has announced it is to ground all of its planes on Wednesday as the one-day strike by IMPACT cabin crew is set to go ahead.
Ten hours of talks between IMPACT representatives and Aer Lingus management at the Labour Court broke down late last night without agreement.
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Meanwhile, SIPTU began balloting its cabin crew members at Aer Lingus on industrial action. A result is not expected until later this week.
Mr Bernard Harbour of IMPACT told ireland.com, no progress was made at yesterday's talks.
He said management’s insistence that a Labour Court recommendation be implemented was not "credible" as 98 per cent of the members rejected it last week.
The Labour Court had proposed replacing the old 24-point salary scale, ranging from £10,800 to £21,200, with a 15-point scale rising from £13,000 to £22,500.
The company claimed today the deal would give a 20 per cent pay increase to those on the lower end of the pay scales, a minimum increase of £2,000 to all cabin crew and a shortened pay band where staff reach the top of the scale after 15 years.
During the talks yesterday, the company said IMPACT rejected its proposal for the immediate implementation of the Labour Court recommendation followed by a Joint Working Group to draw up measures on pay and structures to suit the current needs of the airline.
It claimed IMPACT had increased its demands to cost 50 per cent more than the Labour Court recommendation - a additional cost it said was "totally unsustainable" and "unreasonable".
But IMPACT - which represents 1,400 of the company’s 1,600 cabin crew - has said the pay deal in its current form means staff would have to work for 35 years before reaching a salary of £25,000.
Mr Habour said staff want to see movement in two key areas - the length of time it takes to reach the top of the salary scale and the top rate of pay.
While in percentage terms the deal looks attractive, he claimed it starts from a low basis as staff at the lowest pay scale earn about £5.50 per hour.
Though both sides claim they are "available for talks", the situation has reached a stand-off.
Mr Habour said: "As the company has announced it is to ground flights on Wednesday it seems they do not envisage anything happening before then."
Fine Gael public enterprise spokesman, Mr Jim Higgins, has criticised Government for its failure to deal with the litany of disputes at Aer Lingus over past few months. He said the Government’s responsibility to ensure the resolve the situation.
He said: "It is intolerable that 20,000 Aer Lingus passengers are to be discommoded once again. The chaotic industrial relations situation within Aer Lingus simply cannot go on."