TALKS AT the National Implementation Body (NIB) on the dispute at Aer Lingus concluded yesterday evening with Siptu insisting savings could be made without the company resorting to outsourcing.
The employers' body Ibec, however, described arrangements at the airline as "seriously uncompetitive".
The NIB invited parties to talks in an effort to set in motion a process to resolve the dispute. Siptu, the main union at the airline, has served strike notice on Aer Lingus, which would come into effect on Monday, November 24th.
The dispute centres on management's plans to cut nearly 1,300 jobs and replace staff with outsourced contracts.
In a €74 million cost-cutting package, the airline wants to outsource ground operations, close cabin crew bases in Shannon and Heathrow, and use American crews on some transatlantic routes.
Neither Aer Lingus nor the NIB would comment following the talks which began at about 1pm and lasted about three hours.
Siptu's national industrial secretary, Gerry McCormack, said no one in his union wanted to strike, but he insisted outsourcing was an unnecessary step. "We . . . told [the NIB] we believe a process can be found that . . . achieves the efficiencies sought by the company without outsourcing," he said.
"We now need to know if the management team at Aer Lingus is willing to engage with us."
Ibec said the situation at the airline was "grave". Its director general Turlough O'Sullivan said "Aer Lingus is seriously uncompetitive and needs urgent corrective action". There was a choice, he said, between saving the airline or preserving the maximum number of jobs and seeing its demise.
Last week, Aer Lingus chief executive Dermot Mannion told staff in a webcast that its proposals were "irreversible".
The airline warned the markets that its losses for this year would be about €20 million. It also said that the introduction of the Irish airport travel tax of €10 on each departing passenger would cost it about €30 million next year.
