Aer Lingus is expected to resume full flight schedules today. The 24-hour strike by over 3,000 clerical staff and general operatives grounded the fleet at Dublin, Cork and Shannon yesterday.
The stoppage is estimated to have cost £2 million and is the fourth time the fleet has been grounded since October. The Labour Court and Labour Relations Commission are not expected to intervene in the dispute before Monday. Another strike is due next Friday.
While Aer Lingus has offered refunds or re-bookings for passengers with reservations, it says people should check their travel insurance to recover out-of-pocket expenses. There were no mass meetings or marches at Dublin Airport yesterday. Some company sources attributed this to lack of support for the strike. Dissent with the action was expressed at a section meeting of head-office staff.
SIPTU branch secretary Mr Owen Reidy said there had been a series of information meetings at which some criticism was voiced, but the overall response had been strongly supportive of the strike. "If the company want to get into virility testing or macho posturing they are making a big mistake," he said.
Worker-director Mr Willie Clarke, who has 27 years' service with Aer Lingus, said the decision not to hold a rally or march was deliberate. "This is a very sad day for Aer Lingus staff," he said.
The strike was because "agreements last November by clerical staff and last December by operatives had been accepted by very narrow margins, and people accepted them on the basis that if anyone did better they would not suffer.
"In 1996 our members accepted an increase of 5.5 per cent. The ink wasn't dry on the paper when the company awarded the pilots 17 per cent. We promised our members it would never happen again.
"We don't expect to be paid as much as pilots but we expect to be treated in an equitable manner."
The company has yet to settle with its pilots and it is insisting there can be no return to the Labour Court agreements with ground staff on the basis of what cabin crew received. SIPTU representatives who met the company's chief executive, Mr Michael Foley, had been told the company would not entertain "catch-up" claims, according to its corporate affairs director, Mr Dan Loughrey.
Deals negotiated so far with SIPTU and IMPACT have cost Aer Lingus an estimated £20 million. Pension funding will add considerably to the bill. The company does not want to send the wrong signal to its most powerful group of employees, or leave itself open to further "catch-up" claims from cabin crew that might arise from a new settlement with ground staff. Thus the SIPTU dispute has the capacity to reopen the whole industrial relations agenda at the State airline.