Aer Lingus and unions hold strike talks

Aer Lingus bosses and unions meet for top-level talks today in a bid to avert next week’s planned strike action.

A row over a cost-cutting plan at the airline forced Siptu to threaten rolling four-hour stoppages at Dublin, Shannon and Cork airports on Tuesday and today.

Relations between management and workers worsened yesterday when more than 100 staff at Dublin Airport walked out of a meeting with chief executive Dermot Mannion.

However the country’s industrial disputes trouble-shooter intervened last night and summoned both sides to talks at Dublin’s Government Buildings at 8.30am.

The National Implementation Body will aim to resolve the row which threatens disruption to thousands of air passengers next week.

Aer Lingus wants to push through a €20m cost-saving plan which Siptu claims will cut the individual salaries of many staff by 4,000 euro a year.

A strike by the airline’s pilots in August was called off at the last minute but still resulted in a devastating loss of bookings for the carrier.