Call for talks as Aer Lingus pilots' strike looms

A top industrial troubleshooter today called for talks between Aer Lingus and its pilots over the threatened two-day strike next week.

Labour Relations Commission (LRC) chief executive Kieran Mulvey said the disruptive action, which will affect 50,000 passengers, has the potential to be settled.

The Airline Pilots’ Association’s 48-hour strike on Tuesday and Wednesday is a response to the differing pay and conditions of pilots who will be employed at Belfast International airport.

Aer Lingus announced last week that it will be switching Heathrow flights from Shannon Airport to Belfast in a controversial decision that shocked Mid-West business and tourism leaders.

Referring to airline management and the IALPA, Mr Mulvey said: “They know where we are. We are available to assist them as we always have in the past to successfully conclude their disputes and difficulties. They know who I am. They know who my officers are. They can telephone us if they wish.”

Mr Mulvey, who has helmed the LRC mediation body since 1991, said the difficulties could be resolved with talks between the airline and the union.

“I don’t think we need this dispute. I don’t think it’s desirable. I think potentially it can be settled – all disputes potentially are. I’ve been involved in industrial disputes all my life and sometimes it takes patience and time to get the right decisions. The issues need to be put out clearly on the table. We need both parties in a framework for settlement not in a framework for confrontation.”

“I believe there is sufficient time for the parties to sit down to come to some interim arrangement if necessary without putting at risk any commercial decision the company has made in relation to Belfast.

Mr Mulvey said he feared for the future of Aer Lingus if industrial disputes continued to hamper the airline.

“It’s not just about Shannon, It’s not just about Belfast, it is about corporate governance, it is about the fact that we have privatised Aer Lingus and it has many shareholders with divergent interests.

“It has an essential national and strategic role,” he added.

The newly-formed lobby group, Atlantic Connectivity Alliance, which is fighting Aer Lingus’ plans to end the Shannon-Heathrow service, called on the Government to back a Ryanair proposal to block the move.

Senior Aer Lingus executives are to meet businessmen, industrialists and local politicians in the Mid West on Friday.

But Mr Mulvey said he is not convinced by self-serving public statements by Ryanair’s Michael O'Leary.

“The kind of Monty Pythonesque slapstick he engages in, I don’t think can be taken seriously,” he told RTE Radio.

Mr Mulvey served as general secretary of two teachers trade unions for 16 years and also acted as a consultant to the European Union and the International Labour Organisation.