Siptu has announced tonight that is to seek the intervention of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in the dispute at Aer Lingus.
The carrier and Siptu appear to be heading for strike action after talks at the Labour Relations Commission broke down earlier this week, and the carrier said it planned to go ahead with plans to outsource 1,245 jobs at Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports.
National Industrial Secretary Gerry McCormack told shop stewards today that the company was “seeking to get rid of people in order to boost profits.
In a statement, he said: “At talks with the company over the past three weeks management was not prepared to discuss anything except cutting staff costs and staff jobs.
“We will now seek the assistance of Ictu and the Government to find a solution to this problem but it takes two sides to find a solution to this crisis and that means the company will have to abandon its current position and look seriously for more creative options. Meanwhile we will conclude our ballot next week for industrial action," Mr McCormack said.
He added that the union would not activate any mandate "unless the company carries out its threat to outsource work unilaterally from December 1st".
After the breakdown of the talks, Aer Lingus said it was "frankly disappointing" that Siptu had "failed to engage in any meaningful way" to produce an alternative proposal to its plan to outsource ground operations in a bid to cut costs and return the airline to profitability.
"The reality is that the airline does not have time on its side and cannot endure another year of losses in 2009," Aer Lingus said.
The airline said it would select preferred outsourcing suppliers by the end of this week.
The Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, has no plans to intervene in the standoff between Aer Lingus and Siptu.
