Unions at Aer Lingus have called off planned strike action after the airline agreed to postpone the introduction of new working practices pending the outcome of a Labour Court investigation into the dispute.
Siptu representatives and management at Aer Lingus held "exploratory talks" at the Labour Court today in an attempt to avert industrial action at Dublin airport scheduled to commence at midnight on Sunday.
The dispute is over an Aer Lingus plan to introduce new work practices from Thursday, despite a warning from Siptu that it will respond with industrial action if members' conditions of employment are changed unilaterally.
The airline had also warned staff they face suspension if they do not co-operate with training of new staff who have been recruited on lower terms and conditions.
But this evening the airline agreed to defer the introduction of the new conditions to allow the Labour Court conduct an investigation into the dispute.
The investigation will be carried out on Thursday and Friday and the Labour Court will make its recommendation on Monday next.
Siptu said this evening it had agreed to suspend its planned industrial action in light of the announced investigation and the management's agreement not to proceed with issuing new contracts at this time.
The union said the investigation will cover management's "breach of recent agreements, observance of future agreements and management's Programme for Continuous Improvement — PCI-07."
The Aer Lingus Craft Group of Trade Unions (ALCGTU) also confirmed today that it had pulled back from formally serving strike notice on the airline, following positive discussions at the Labour Court.
"There is a long way to go but at least we have both taken half a step forward" said Brian Gormley of Amicus who chairs the ALCGTU.
Siptu, which represents 1,800 Aer Lingus workers, and the craft unions said their members would also refuse to work overtime; that on-call services would be withdrawn, except in the case of aircraft emergencies; and that there would be a work to rule.