Little headway made in Aer Lingus talks

THERE is unlikely to be any narrowing of the gulf between Aer Lingus and its pilots over the terms and conditions surrounding the employment of staff at the new Belfast base after talks yesterday failed to make any substantive headway.

Shortly before a delegation led by Aer Lingus chief Dermot Mannion and pilots’ unions the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association (IALPA) and IMPACT sat down at Aer Lingus headquarters, company executives made the decision not to inflame the situation by publishing the exact terms and conditions of employment in Belfast on the airline website. However, they will be published online tomorrow and the 1,100 applicants for the 100 posts can email the airline at any time to receive the details.

Michael Landers of IMPACT said following yesterday’s meeting: “I think it is progress that we are coming back and talking about this issue again. The week before last there was strike action in the offing. Now we are discussing the issues with the company and I think that is progress.”

However, what progress can be made tomorrow remains unclear. Aer Lingus last night reiterated that new staff would be given local entitlements and it was not going to back down on the issue for any reason.

IMPACT and IALPA said they would veto any conditions that were less favourable than those enjoyed south of the border.

The Labour Relations Commission, which has not been able to broker a compromise in hours of discussions over the past two weeks, has taken a notable step back from the process and there is likely to be little reason for it to be recalled.

IMPACT said the LRC was still very much part of the negotiations and the only reason it was not present in the talks and would not be present tomorrow was that it was giving the two sides the chance to seek some form of middle ground directly.

However, one source at Aer Lingus said while it could not rule out anything at this stage there was nothing being said that could give any reason to bring the industrial relations body back to the table.

The talks process seems rapidly to be coming to a conclusion. The airline has said it needs to start the business of recruiting the 100 staff it needs in place in Belfast by December 10.

By then it needs to whittle down the 1,100 applicants, put those successful through a detailed induction and prepare its latest base.

Meanwhile, the powerful publicans lobby group the Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI) yesterday rowed into the Shannon/Heathrow controversy with a blistering attack on Transport Minister Noel Dempsey.

VFI national executive member and former president David Hickey dismissed the minister’s handling of the crisis.

“He is a stubborn kind of man and will have to be brought down to reality and brought down to size. This is not lost and will not be lost. I don’t see the people of the mid-west lying down too easily. This fight is only starting and every man woman and child will have to get in behind the politicians trying to keep a Shannon/Heathrow link.”